Dish beats Q2 earnings estimates but loses 67K pay TV subscribers
Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network beat Wall Street’s second-quarter estimates even as it continued to bleed tens of thousands of pay-TV subscribers.
The satellite TV company was boosted by its growing wireless business even as customers continued cord-cutting, in which they cancel traditional cable or satellite TV packages and opt to stream content instead.
Dish said it closed the quarter with nearly 9 million wireless subscribers thanks to “transformative” deal Ergen announced last month with AT&T to make it the primary network services partner for its wireless customers.
Under the terms of the 10-year pact worth at least $5 billion, AT&T will provide voice, data and messaging services to customers of Dish-owned Boost Mobile, Ting and Republic Wireless.
![Charlie Ergen](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/08/dish-earnings-01.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
Dish lost 67,000 pay-TV subscribers in the quarter ending June 30. Overall, the company ended the period with nearly 11 million total subscribers, including 8.6 million Dish TV subscribers and 2.4 million Sling TV streaming subscribers.
The satellite TV company on Monday posted a 48.4 percent rise in quarterly net income to $671 million or $1.06 a diluted share from year-ago income of $452.3 million, or 78 cents a share as it boosted its wireless business.
Revenue rose 40.8 percent to $4.49 billion from $3.19 billion. Analysts’ expected 88 cents on sales of $4.43 billion.
![A Dish Network satellite dish is seen mounted on the roof of an apartment building.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/08/dish-earnings-03.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
The wireless pact is part of a race among telecom firms to ramp up their 5G infrastructure to provide faster data services and better coverage to customers. It also helps Dish accelerate its wireless distribution in more rural markets where the company already provides satellite TV services.