Dish Loses Subscribers, But Ups Revs 5%

Dish Network was hit with a net loss of subscribers for the fourth quarter of 2014 -- a reversal of a slight gain a year ago.

The satellite-delivered TV programming service had a net loss of 65,000 for the fourth quarter, and was down 79,000 for the year. Dish had a net gain of 8,000 in the fourth quarter of 2013. Dish ended 2014 with 13.978 million pay TV subscribers, versus 14.057 million at the end of 2013.

Dish witnessed a lift of what those subscribers pay on average per month -- by 4.2% -- to $83.77 from $80.37. But the cost to acquire new pay TV subscribers declined --  from $866 to $853 -- thanks to cheaper hardware costs. Advertising to get those subscribers rose slightly.

The company gained fewer broadband subscribers at the end of 2014 versus 2013 -- 141,000 to 253,000. Dish ended the year with 577,000 broadband customer versus 436,000 the year before.

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For the full year, Dish revenue climbed 5.3% to $14.6 billion, with net income 17% higher to $945 million. For the fourth quarter, revenue was 4% higher to $3.68 billion with net income at 42% higher at $409.9 million.

Dish announced that Joe Clayton would be resigning as its chief executive officer with Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen returning to the CEO post.

Dish’s stock was up 0.5% for $78.69 in mid-day trading.

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