Sling TV Added 46,000 Subscribers in the 2nd Quarter 2019

DISH Network provided their 2nd Quarter Financial Results. Sling TV added 46,000 subscribers in the 2nd Quarter 2019. DISH Network reported 2.424 Million Sling TV subscribers at the end of the 1st quarter of 2018. Currently, Sling TV has approximately 2.47 Million subscribers.

Sling TV Outlook

DISH Network (who owns Sling TV) acknowledges that streaming Internet TV services have become very competitive. And that mergers and purchases can negatively affect DISH Network and Sling TV. DISH Network even refers to how the AT&T purchase of Time Warner and Walt Disney Company’s purchase of Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. might make it difficult for DISH Network and Sling TV to get fair programming rates that would allow fair competition.

Sling TV also acknowledges that they are competing with other streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, and DirecTV NOW that distribute both Live TV and on-demand video to customers over the Internet. Competing companies continue to create their own content and directly market this content to streaming Internet customers.

DISH TV Lost 1.125 Million Subscribers in 2018

DISH TV lost 1.125 Million subscribers in 2018, but Sling TV gained 205,000 new subscribers. The DISH TV subscriber loss and the Sling TV subscriber gain resulted in a net-loss of 920,000 DISH Network subscribers.

The DISH Network loss of Univision, HBO, and AT&T channels from both DISH TV and the Sling TV programming lineup is a contributing cause of the large number of DISH TV subscribers and the lower number of Sling TV new subscribers. Customers left Sling TV to get the Univsion and AT&T channels from other companies. AT&T also owns DirecTV, a competitor to DISH Network.

DISH Network had a net-loss of 284,000 subscribers in 2017.

Sling TV Added 46,000 Subscribers in the 2nd Quarter 2019

Sling TV Subscribers

While Sling TV subscriber numbers continue to climb, Sling TV overall subscriber growth seems to be slowing.

Sling TV New Subscribers – By Year

2015: 526,000 New Subscribers
2016: 878,000 New Subscribers
2017: 711,000 New Subscribers
2018: 205,000 New Subscribers
2019 Q2: 53,000 New Subscribers – only through the 2nd Quarter

Read more about DirecTV NOW Raised Prices and Lost 500,000 Subscribers.

Live TV Streaming Services Subscriber Numbers

Here is a breakout of the Live TV subscriber totals.

• CBS All Access – 4 Million subscribers (and another 4 Million subscribers for Showtime) (Lauren Feiner, CNBC)
• Sling TV – 2.4 Million subscribers*
• Hulu Live TV (Only Live TV) – 2 Million subscribers
• DIRECTV NOW – 1.3 Million subscribers
• YouTube TV – 1 Million subscribers
• Playstation Vue (PS Vue) – 450,000 to 670,000 subscribers (Estimated: Stephen Lovely, Fool.com)

*Dish Network, Dish TV, and Sling TV subscription numbers obtained from SEC Annual and Quarterly Report filings (Forms 10-Q and 10-K).

NOTE: CBS All Access is also available through Amazon Channels. See the Complete List of Amazon Channels.

DISH TV vs Sling TV

Expect the subscriber numbers of DISH TV to continue to decline AND the subscriber numbers of Sling TV to increase.

Traditional cable TV and satellite TV companies are being replaced. Consumers continue to watch more Live TV and video on-demand through the Internet and wireless phones.

Sling TV and other streaming internet video providers will continue to grow as DISH TV customers “cut the cord” from traditional cable and satellite TV services. Hopefully DISH Network will be able switch DISH TV “cord cutters” to a Sling TV subscription.