Dish Network couldn’t fight the industry trend and reported Monday that it lost 134,000 pay-TV subscribers during the first quarter of 2015.
But revenues and income for the Douglas County satellite-TV provider were up, as the company focused on keeping customers who pay a higher bill each month.
The highlight for the quarter, which several analysts questioned during a conference call Monday, was Dish’s new Internet-based , which launched in February and is being heavily watched by the industry.
“The results are encouraging. It’s a brand new thing,” said Dish founder Charlie Ergen, who returned as its CEO last month. “And for the majority of (Sling customers), they’re new entrants and weren’t paying for TV before. We’re excited, and I believe it’s going to add meaningful revenues and meaningful value for the company.”
Sling TV, which offers a Netflix-like subscription service of 20 live TV channels for $20, is Dish’s effort to go after the so-called potential customers who have cut the cord and the so-called “cord nevers” who have never paid for TV. The company did not say how many customers Sling has.
In its , Dish said that operating results related to its Sling TV service are included in its “equipment sales and other revenue,” which increased $228,000 to $22.47 million in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2014.
While this “other revenue” category includes more than just Sling revenues, the category increased $1.44 million from the fourth quarter of 2014.
Overall, first-quarter revenues rose about 2.7 percent from a year ago to $3.7 billion, while net income nearly doubled to $351 million from $176 million a year ago.
While the number of subscribers shrank, Dish made more money per customer than last year. The average monthly revenue per customer came in at $86.01 in the first quarter, compared with $82.36 last year.
Dish attributed customer declines to a standoff with Fox News, which blacked out its channels to Dish subscribers for four weeks. The .
“We’re armed with real data on the effect on our business,” Ergen said during the call. “We knew Fox News was going to impact our business. … But we’ll take anything down when it’s a horrible deal.”
In December, its rate if Dish wanted to offer the channels to its 14 million subscribers.
Dish ended the quarter with 13.8 million pay-TV subscribers, which does not include Sling TV customers.
Ergen also addressed concerns about its recent win of wireless spectrum, which in an Federal Communications Commission auction in January. Competitors behind smaller companies to win the bid — and get a $3.3 billion discount as a small business.
“I can only say that Dish and to my knowledge (Dish’s partners) followed the rules and did not violate any FCC rule for the auction,” Ergen said.
Tamara Chuang: 303-954-1209, tchuang@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Gadgetress
