ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—EchoStar Corporation joined the chorus of growing woes in the pay TV industry during this quarter’s earning season by reporting lower revenue and worse losses both for Q2 ending June 30, 2024 and for the first six months of the year.
In Q2, net pay-TV subscribers decreased approximately 104,000 in the second quarter, compared to 294,000 in the year ago quarter. The company closed the quarter with 8.07 million Pay-TV subscribers including 6.07 million Dish TV subscribers and 2.00 million Sling TV subscribers.
EchoStar said that the change in net Pay-TV subscriber losses resulted from Sling TV subscriber additions in the second quarter compared to losses in the year ago quarter and a decrease in net Dish TV subscriber losses due to a lower DISH TV churn rate, offset by lower gross new Dish TV subscriber activations.
The company is investing heavily in 5G and wireless to take up the slack from its declining pay TV business but in Q2 retail wireless net subscribers decreased by approximately 16,000 in the second quarter. The company closed the quarter with 7.28 million retail wireless subscribers. The decrease in net retail wireless subscriber losses resulted from a lower retail wireless churn rate, offset by lower gross new retail wireless subscriber activations, the company said.
EchoStar also noted that the second quarter was negatively impacted by net losses of government subsidized subscribers, including Affordable Connectivity Program ("ACP") subscribers, compared to net additions in the year ago quarter, primarily due to the ACP program funding concluding on June 1, 2024. Excluding the impact of net losses of government subsidized subscribers EchoStar added approximately 32,000 retail wireless subscribers in the second quarter.
Broadband net subscribers decreased by approximately 23,000 in the second quarter, compared to 55,000 in the year ago quarter. The company closed the quarter with 955,000 Broadband subscribers. The net broadband subscriber loss improvement was primarily due to the new EchoStar XXIV satellite service launch and increased subscriber demand for our new satellite service plans.
For the six months ending June 30, 2024, EchoStar reported total revenue of $7.97 billion for the six months ending June 30, 2024, down significantly compared to $8.74 billion in the year ago period.
Losses also widened. The net loss attributable to EchoStar in the first two quarters of 2024 was $312.97 million, compared to net income of $466.20 million in the year ago period. Diluted loss per share was $1.15, compared to earnings per share of $1.51 in the year ago period. Consolidated operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) totaled $912.31 million for the six months ending June 30, 2024, compared to $1.32 billion in the year ago period.
