After DIRECTV NOW reported it had lost over 200,000 subscribers many wondered if Sling TV would also lose subscribers. Today we learned that Sling TV gained subscribers and now has over 2.42 million subscribers.
Sling TV started 2018 with 2.21 million subscribers and while growth slowed from 2017 Sling TV gained subscribers in every quarter of 2018. Dish overall lost 334,000 TV customers in the 4th quater of 2018 when you count satellite TV customers. Overall Dish’s net income was down with just $1.58 billion compared to $2.10 during the same period of 2017.
Recently DIRECTV NOW lost 267,000 subscribers in the 4th quarter of 2018. This is compared to the 3rd quarters of 2018 when DIRECTV NOW added 49,000 subscribers.
The drop in new subscribers is likely caused by several factors like increased competition from new live TV streaming services, DIRECTV NOW’s price hike, fewer deals on DIRECTV NOW (for example the end of their Apple TV deal and the end of the 3 months for $10 deal) and a general slow down in the growth of cord cutting overall. Well, cord cutting has never been more popular the rate of growth has slowed from what many had expected. Many have pointed to the very strong economy resulting in Americans not rushing to find cheaper options for TV. Others have pointed to a growing number of cord-cutters who are skipping live TV services in favor of antennas and on-demand services to explain the growth of cord cutting but services like DIRECTV NOW seeing a drop in how fast they are growing.
Later today Dish will hold their earnings call that should give us more insight into the future of Dish and Sling TV.
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