DISH spills subs in tough fourth quarter
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Editor
| 13 February 2019

A series of retrans disputes and the secular shift away from satellite video services have contributed to a challenging end of 2018 for DISH Network seeing a year-on-year net annual fall of 334,000 subscribers.

For the quarter ended 31 December 2018, DISH posted revenues totalling $3.31 billion, down 5% compared the corresponding period in 2017. Net income attributable to DISH Network for the quarter amounted to $337 million collapsing by 75% compared with the end of the same period in 2017.

In addition, large fall in revenues, the company haemorrhaged pay-TV subscribers with the net total down by approximately 334,000. This compared with net additions of 39,000 at the end of Q4 2017. DISH closed the fourth quarter with 12.32 million pay-TV subscribers, including 9.90 million DISH TV subscribers and 2.42 million Sling TV subscribers.

For the full year, DISH reported 2018 total revenue of $13.62 billion, slipping 5.3% compared with the end of fiscal year 2017. Subscriber-related revenue in 2018 was $13.46 billion, down 5.6% compared with 2017. Net income attributable to DISH Network in 2018 was $1.58 billion, tumbling 25.76% compared with 2017. Pay-TV ARPU was $85.46 during 2018 versus $86.43 in 2017. DISH TV's average monthly subscriber churn for 2018 was 1.78%, unchanged from 2017.

The fourth quarter saw a dispute between Tegna and DISH which saw on 1 December 2018 the former black out DISH customers' access to its 49 local channels in 39 markets across 34 US states and the District of Columbia.