While DISH’s Sling TV saw an uptick in subscribers for Q2 2021, its DISH TV subscriber count was down for the quarter. DISH TV lost 132,000 customers in Q2, bringing the net loss of pay TV customers for the quarter to 67,000.
“We lost approximately 132,000 net DISH TV subscribers during the three months ended June 30, 2021 compared to the loss of approximately 40,000 net DISH TV subscribers during the same period in 2020. This increase in net DISH TV subscriber losses primarily resulted from lower gross new DISH TV subscriber activations and a higher DISH TV churn rate,” the SEC filing from Monday morning said.
The churn rate DISH pointed to was up 1.29% compared to 1.14% in Q2 2020. The company noted that it continues to be impacted by the pandemic, with “lower discretionary spending and reduced ability to perform our in-home service operations” potentially contributing to customer losses. Cord cutting was also listed as a reason for the drop in customers, along with increased competition, expiration of carriage contracts, and piracy.
DISH TV had 8.55 million customers at the end of Q2.