Fewer Subscribers but Paying More

[JimWH]

DISH 4th qtr financials: https://tv.yahoo.com/news/dish-network-subscribers-dip-related-revenue-rises-q4-123840453.html

It seems there are fewer of us, but we are paying more money.

 

[MikeD-C05]

So DISH is back to 13.9 million subs again. They just can't seem to get past 14 million and stay there, and that has been that way for years and years now. Also Charlie will be taking over as CEO and replacing Joe Clayton again. I guess Charlie just couldn't delegate that much control in the day to day operations after all. Sales Proves that they always make profits and more money by hiking the prices and FEES , on the dwindling amount of subs who remain.

 

[Yespage]

Is that sub loss including the mass exodus from the the Fox outage (or was that this year)?

So DISH is back to 13.9 million subs again. They just can't seem to get past 14 million and stay there...

Sales Proves that they always make profits and more money by hiking the prices and FEES , on the dwindling amount of subs who remain.

Mike doesn't agree with Mike about Dish's subscriber base. I agree with the first Mike. Losing 81,000 subs isn't dwindling.

 

[Tampa8]

14 Million seems to be the wall. That said when you look at Cable's losses, an economy that has not in any relevant way improved for years, and all the other entertainment choices now available, overall DISH is doing ok.

 

[MikeD-C05]

14 Million seems to be the wall. That said when you look at Cable's losses, an economy that has not in any relevant way improved for years, and all the other entertainment choices now available, overall DISH is doing ok.

I feel like they are just running in place, with a slow walk here and there. They just can't seem to hit the end of the finish line. Directv keeps adding subs and DISH just keeps adding and losing & gaining the same number and never gets any bigger than 14 million. They have been that way for over 10 years now. Doing ok ,but in the long run it means stagnation and then eventual decline. As the older subs die out and the younger subs or "cord nevers" ,never sub to pay tv , it means decline and then destruction. Something has to change and the number one thing they need to do is shake up the programming packs into smaller priced packs that you can add to or take away to save money for the subs. Forced bundling is killing pay tv or at least severely wounding DISH. Ala cart is what people really want and most ott services like Netlix, Hulu plus, are offering these options now at low prices and without the charge it because we can, fees that DISH is so fond of. Obviously great cutting edge technology like Hoppers and super joeys etc , are not enough to attract new subs, if the prices are so high you can't afford them.

 

[KAB]

. Directv keeps adding subs and DISH just keeps adding and losing & gaining the same number and never gets any bigger than 14 million.

Mike, Directv lost 28K domestic subs in their 3rdQ. Their only growth is in Latin America, and even that is declining..

 

[Scherrman]

If you are hovering around the same amount of customers without gaining yet make a substantial profit each year then who cares? As long as they are making a good profit I'm sure they're fine with their amount of subscribers. It's when you lose customers and lose profit when things get serious.

 

[lparsons21]

Mike, Directv lost 28K domestic subs in their 3rdQ. Their only growth is in Latin America, and even that is declining..

Correct, and the increase in 4q was mostly due to being very aggressive with retention offerings here in the US, imo.

 

[dare2be]

Not much to say here except that this is all just a symptom of a saturated, stagnant market coupled with unmitigated over-spending by content owners for content. The bubble is about to burst and the providers that position themselves for the future will survive, while the others will not.

 

[ChadT41]

I feel like they are just running in place, with a slow walk here and there. They just can't seem to hit the end of the finish line. Directv keeps adding subs and DISH just keeps adding and losing & gaining the same number and never gets any bigger than 14 million. They have been that way for over 10 years now. Doing ok ,but in the long run it means stagnation and then eventual decline. As the older subs die out and the younger subs or "cord nevers" ,never sub to pay tv , it means decline and then destruction. Something has to change and the number one thing they need to do is shake up the programming packs into smaller priced packs that you can add to or take away to save money for the subs. Forced bundling is killing pay tv or at least severely wounding DISH. Ala cart is what people really want and most ott services like Netlix, Hulu plus, are offering these options now at low prices and without the charge it because we can, fees that DISH is so fond of. Obviously great cutting edge technology like Hoppers and super joeys etc , are not enough to attract new subs, if the prices are so high you can't afford them.

I think their way of shaking up the market and getting those "cord nevers" was to introduce SlingTV. It is, afterall, targeted towards that audience.

 

[Tampa8]

I feel like they are just running in place, with a slow walk here and there. They just can't seem to hit the end of the finish line........

I really can't disagree. (Except as pointed out Direct TV has also lost subs in the U.S. But prior they were adding while DISH was not really for quite some time) It isn't they are just running in place now, it's they have been running in place with some small spurts of growth for a long time as you say.
It may be their strength will be in the sum of their services, Satellite, online, and looks like some pending wireless plan.

 

[Willh699]

dish is losing customers, but they aren't going to cable, AT&T U-verse, Verizon Fios or DirecTV. Dish is losing customers to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Google Play/Youtube, and other streaming content providers as people are cutting the cord and getting their shows from their internet connection and the locals via an antenna, which at this point are cheaper then Dish and the other providers cause you don't have to waste a lot of money on tax fees and DVR fees and increased rates for channels that got to greedy and don't offer a good choice of content for the price they are asking for.

i know i would cut the cord if it wasn't for my internet provider. i would watch WWE content via illegal webstreams for all WWE shows not on WWE Network and subscribe to the WWE Network for the rest and maybe search for a way to keep up with TNA Impact, Lucha Underground and other wrestling shows via the internet. and also find a way to watch NASCAR races that aren't on Fox or NBC (as in the FS1 and NBCSN televised races). plus i could watch the shows i like to watch that are on cable via hulu, amazon and other sites, but my internet is not good enough for full blown streaming all the time.

 

[rad]

I really can't disagree. (Except as pointed out Direct TV has also lost subs in the U.S.

According to their latest report DIRECTV ended 2013 with 20,253,000 subs and ended 2014 with 20,352,000 subs in the US, I see that as a year over year gain, not lost subs. That's from http://investor.directv.com/press-r...arter-and-Full-Year-2014-Results/default.aspx

 

[harshness]

Is that sub loss including the mass exodus from the the Fox outage (or was that this year)?

Repeating the question ad infinitum isn't going to increase the almost imperceptible impact of the Fox dispute. There was clearly no "mass exodus".

 

[harshness]

According to their latest report DIRECTV ended 2013 with 20,253,000 subs and ended 2014 with 20,352,000 subs in the US, I see that as a year over year gain, not lost subs.

Agreed! DIRECTV's year-to-year gains aren't anything to write home about, but they are gains nonetheless (unless they're doing another round of careful miscalculations as they did a few years ago).

I recall that they've only had one or two quarters in their history with a better churn statistic than 2014Q4.

One must acknowledge the push they did at the end of the year by lopping another $10 off of all packages for new customers likely had an impact.

 

[Yespage]

Repeating the question ad infinitum isn't going to increase the almost imperceptible impact of the Fox dispute. There was clearly no "mass exodus".

Sorry, I should have made the sarcasm more clear.

 

[MikeD-C05]

I really can't disagree. (Except as pointed out Direct TV has also lost subs in the U.S. But prior they were adding while DISH was not really for quite some time) It isn't they are just running in place now, it's they have been running in place with some small spurts of growth for a long time as you say.
It may be their strength will be in the sum of their services, Satellite, online, and looks like some pending wireless plan.

Hopefully the DISH / T-mobile partnership proposed in media articles will be what saves them,but if they don't get a move on, they will blow even this chance for a future path.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Mike, Directv lost 28K domestic subs in their 3rdQ. Their only growth is in Latin America, and even that is declining..

But over all the company as a whole is still growing, even if it isn't in the U.S.A. and all in latin America. DISH has had very few quarters in the last several years where they actually gained subs and when they did gain them , it was gone again the next quarter. DISH is just jogging in place trying to keep in the same place with subs hovering close to 14 million and no higher.

 

[satgirl51]

But over all the company as a whole is still growing, even if it isn't in the U.S.A. and all in latin America. DISH has had very few quarters in the last several years where they actually gained subs and when they did gain them , it was gone again the next quarter. DISH is just jogging in place trying to keep in the same place with subs hovering close to 14 million and no higher.

But it did grow in the USA over the entire year(just slightly), 4th quarter mainly

 

[ChadT41]

But over all the company as a whole is still growing, even if it isn't in the U.S.A. and all in latin America. DISH has had very few quarters in the last several years where they actually gained subs and when they did gain them , it was gone again the next quarter. DISH is just jogging in place trying to keep in the same place with subs hovering close to 14 million and no higher.

They have more subscribers, and I haven't read their financials yet, but I did read an article that they lost a significant amount of money in Latin America because of the exchange rate.