Dish Networks witnessed
sharply lower net pay TV subscribers in the first quarter of this year -- sinking by 134,000.
The company now has 13.8 million pay TV subscribers. A year ago in the same time period, Dish added
40,000 new subscribers.
Still, Dish witnessed a 4% gain on the average price each subscriber pays per month to $86.01. Overall company revenue was up slightly for Dish Network to $3.7 billion
from the $3.6 billion of a year ago -- but a bit below expectations, according to some analysts. Net income attributable to Dish more than doubled $351 million to $176 million.
Midday trading
of Dish’s stock was down 0.6% to $66.43.
Dish executives believe the down-trading pay TV subscribers are the result of a weak economy and heavy promotions from competitors.
In an
effort to counter this earlier this year, Dish launched Sling TV, a cloud-based Internet TV service offering a slimmer package of networks at a cheaper price.
For its budding, broadband
business, Dish Network added about 14,000 subscribers to approximately 591,000 in the first quarter -- a much smaller addition that in the first quarter of 2014, when it added about 53,000 net
broadband subscribers.
Analysts are still positive about Dish overall, especially its acquisitions in recent years in spectrum holdings. One analyst says Dish is now the fifth-largest holder
of spectrum in the country.