Dish announced earnings recently and while their ARPU “avg. revenue per user (customer)” went up 3.6%, they lost 81K subscribers.  The growth of SlingTV is helpful and they call it a growth area, However, it generates only about a quarter of the revenue per customer with plans starting at $20/month.  Also, nobody is really pointing out that to consume SlingTV, one must pay one of Dish’s wireline competitors for internet service.

This is another reminder of how important it is to diversify with new services as traditional TV content is no longer the “cash cow” of years past.  Dish needs to find a use for all their spectrum and since they have lots of cash, they might buy even more at the next spectrum auction.  But, what they will do with it remains the question.

Providers with a wire into the home still seem to have the edge for now.  They can offer integrated services with multi-screen TV delivery, home phone, mobile phone, and smart-home services.  When I talk to Mersoft customers, they tell us that these integrated offerings both retain their service bundles and often give customers reasons to upgrade to higher levels of service – higher retention and higher “ARPU” (average revenue per user).

That’s why Mersoft offers Mersoft move™ so communications services providers can offer voice, video, messaging and data services from media sharing, to personal broadcasting to truly live security camera streaming with Mersoftstream™.  These and other interesting use cases provide real value to customers who stick around.

Forbes has a quick rundown on Dish earnings here.

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