Dish 3Q Net Fails to Impress as Subscriber Losses Continue

Suffering from more subscriber defections, Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) revealed a weaker-than-expected 30% rise in third-quarter earnings on Monday.

The Englewood, Colo.-based satellite television provider said it earned $319 million, or 71 cents a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $244.9 million, or 55 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts had called for EPS of 73 cents.

Revenue increased 12.3% to $3.6 billion, narrowly trailing the Street’s view of $3.64 billion.

Dish said its subscriber base shrank last quarter by 2.4% year-over year to 13.9 million customers.

“Our net subscriber loss improved over the second quarter of this year but continued to be affected by increased competitive pressures, including aggressive competitive promotional offers, discounting and a weak housing market,” CEO Joe Clayton said in a statement.

To counter these competitive pressures, Dish said it plans to build on momentum achieved from its introduction of Blockbuster-branded programming that allow customers to stream movies and TV shows as well as receive DVDs in the mail.

Charles Ergen, the owner of Dish, is mulling offering live cable channels via the web, most likely under the Blockbuster brand name, The New York Post reported on Monday.

Dish also unveiled a one-time dividend payout of $2.00 a share for both Class A and Class B shareholders.

Shares of Dish slipped 0.81% to $23.29 ahead of Monday’s open, eating into their 2011 gain of nearly 20%.