Even Dish's Sling TV streaming video service isn't keeping Dish from losing pay TV subscribers. Dish's first quarter earnings indicate that the satellite TV provider lost 143,000 pay TV subscribers during the first quarter of 2017, compared to a loss of just 23,000 pay TV subscribers during the first quarter of 2016. The losses are in part likely thanks to a protracted content blackout caused by a programming contract dispute with Hearst. Dish customers lost access to 33 Hearst TV stations in 26 markets in a standoff that was only just resolved.
Dish intentionally includes new Sling TV customers in with its overall video subscriber totals, but analysts predict that Sling TV's momentum wasn't enough to help Dish.
MoffettNathanson’s Craig Moffett estimated in a research note to inevestors that Dish lost around 320,000 traditional satellite TV customers in the quarter -- a 9.1% dip in total users from last year. In contrast, Moffett estimates that Dish gained around 177,000 Sling TV users in the quarter. And while it's good that Dish is trying something different to try and appeal to cord cutters, traditional satellite customers pay significantly more money each month than Sling TV subscribers.
Dish also lost 25,000 net satellite broadband subscribers during the quarter, leaving them with a grand total of 555,000 broadband subs at the end of Q1.
Many cable providers can turn to broadband (and usage caps and overage fees) as they continue to bleed pay TV subscribers. Comcast, for example, uses its
growing broadband monopoly (created as telcos refuse to upgrade their networks, driving frustrated DSL customers to faster speeds and cable TV bundles) to offset some of pay TV's decline. Dish has no such luxury, which is one of the reasons it's eyeing a wireless network.