WASHINGTON — Dish Network is losing TV customers, even with its new online video service, Sling TV, that’s aimed at millennials who don’t want traditional TV service.
The satellite TV operator said Wednesday that it lost 81,000 TV subscribers overall in the April-June quarter. Sling TV launched in February and had added 169,000 customers in the first quarter while satellite TV subscribers dropped by 134,000.
Dish did not break out Sling versus satellite TV customers for the second quarter.
Dish also said Wednesday in a regulatory filing that it expects to lose a $3.3 billion discount from the Federal Communications Commission spectrum auction this year in which it bid $10 billion for wireless airwaves through two companies it had invested in.
Dish Chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen suggested Wednesday that the prospect of losing that discount had put a roadblock in talks with T-Mobile.
The Douglas County company said Wednesday that second-quarter profit rose 52 percent, thanks to higher programming package prices and customer pay-per-view orders for a big boxing match. Profit came to $324.4 million, or 70 cents per share. Revenue grew 3.9 percent to $3.83 billion.
