Following the completion of its merger with DISH Network, EchoStar Corporation said it’s completed a “series of strategic transactions to further unlock incremental strategic, financial and operating flexibility for its business.” This comes as DISH is hoping the newly merged company will be able to find new funding options to complete the buildout of its wireless network.
DISH is moving assets around with its new owner, EchoStar. DISH transferred certain of its wireless spectrum licenses under the umbrella of a newly formed branch of the company, EchoStar Wireless Holding. According to a release, DISH will continue to retain ownership of other spectrum licenses.
The news comes after EchoStar completed the acquisition of DISH Network earlier this month, forming the EchoStar Corporation. Under the merger, DISH is set to remain the pay TV brand, but will get a much-needed cash influx to aid its aspirations of becoming a competitive wireless provider.
“We have a narrow path, but there is a path, to achieve financial stability and make sure we meet our commitments,” Chairman Charlie Ergen said in DISH’s third quarter earnings. “Having been through this for a long time, we’ve had narrow paths before.” Now that this merger is complete DISH will have the ability to hopefully use the new company to attract new investors.
“This asset allocation enables EchoStar to more optimally position the necessary resources for the execution of its strategic goal of becoming the premier provider of terrestrial mobile, satellite connectivity, and content services” Hamid Akhavan, EchoStar’s president and CEO said in a statement.
DISH announced its third quarter 2023 earnings and reported that DISH and Sling TV lost 64,000 subscribers. This is great news as Sling TV has turned around recent losses and added customers in the 3rd quarter of 2023.
Sling TV added 117,000, and DISH lost 181,000 subscribers. In total, DISH now has 8,840,000 pay TV customers between the two brands, down from 8,904,000 during the same period in 2022. Sling TV now has 2.12 million subscribers, and DISH has 6.72 million subscribers.
DISH has long said that it sees the future of the company as a wireless provider selling 5G. Now this merger may be what it needs to finish the network buildout.