Dish shares dip as more subscribers leave
Cord-cutting continues to take its toll on cable and satellite companies, with no foreseeable end in sight. The latest victim: Dish Network.
The satellite provider announced its third quarter earnings Wednesday morning, revealing it added 736,000 subscribers, but saw 116,000 users end their service.
By comparison, the nation's second largest satellite provider added 751,000 subscribers and saw a loss of 23,000 users last year.
The third quarter results mark the second consecutive large drop in subscribers for the Englewood, Colorado-based TV provider. In the second quarter Dish reported its worst quarterly subscriber loss, losing 281,000 users.
Dish ended the quarter with 13.643 million pay-TV subscribers, down from 13.909 million at the same point in 2015.
It is unclear where exactly Dish is hurting. In addition to its traditional satellite offering, the company also offers Sling TV, a streaming service aimed at cord-cutters that starts at $20 per month and uses the internet instead of a satellite to broadcast live TV. Dish counts both types of subscribers in its overall subscriber numbers, though refused to break out how many use the service.
While the streaming option opens up Dish to a large potential of new subscribers, the space is becoming increasingly competitive with AT&T-owned rival DirecTV preparing to launch its own $35 per month streaming service later this year.
Revenue for Dish was $3.75 billion, beating Wall Street's expectations of $3.73 billion according to analysts polled by S&P Global Capital Intelligence. Net income for the quarter was $307 million, below Wall Street's expectations of $316 million.
Subscriber churn rate, or the percentage of subscribers leaving the service, was 2.11% this past quarter up from 1.86% in 2015. Average revenue per user however, rose to $89.44 in the third quarter compared to $86.33 last year.
Shares of Dish were down more than 6%, to $56.68, in pre-market trading Wednesday.
Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter @eliblumenthal.