We'd assumed it had already happened before, since both companies are controlled by Chairman Charlie Ergen, but Dish Network pay TV and Hughes Networks Systems satellite broadband are bundling their services for hard-to-reach rural customers for the first time.
New customers who bundle Dish pay TV with the Hughesnet Internet will receive $5 off each service. The bundle also includes a two-year price-lock guarantee.
Dish and Hughes are now under the same corporate roof, following the merger of Dish into EchoStar back in January.
"With the combination of Hughes and Dish technologies, innovation, and leadership focused on rural American homes, we are more strategically aligned, and the customer remains at the center of what we do," said Paul Gaske, chief operating officer, Hughes, in a statement. "Rural customers have traditionally had limited options for TV and internet in rural America. Dish and Hughes are solving those hurdles by further advancing connectivity in rural communities to provide the best value in TV and Internet."
Hughesnet ISP tiers start at $60 a month for a package that delivers 50 megabits per second downstream. The company's technology backbone is now backed by the new Jupiter 3 satellite, which was launched last July, and is capable of delivering speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
For now, the Dish and Hughes services are segregated as two distinct services delivered by different satellites to separate receiver dishes on customer rooftops. But the two companies are working on various other forms of integration that go beyond billing.
There's reportedly talk of bundling virtual pay TV service Sling TV with Hughesnet. Dish's Android TV-based Hopper Plus digital video recorder system is also being optimized to work with Hughesnet tech.
As it looks to complete its pricey national buildout of a 5G wireless network, it would certainly help EchoStar to improve the cash flow of its legacy business.
Dish satellite TV lost 213,000 customers in the first quarter, but that did represent a significant improvement over the 318,000 lost from January - March of last year.
And Hughes lost 26,000 broadband customers in Q1 vs. a year-ago quarterly loss of 51,000.
