Charlie Ergen’s EchoStar reported a net pay-TV subscriber drop of approximately 168,000 in the fourth quarter, compared to a decrease of approximately 253,000 in the year-ago period.
The company ended the year 2025 with 7.00 million pay-TV subscribers, including 5.02 million Dish TV subscribers and 1.98 million Sling TV subscribers. The company lost 636,000 Dish TV subs in all of 2025, down from a loss of 785,000 in 2024. The firm also recorded a loss of 167,000 Sling TV subs in 2025, a swing from a 37,000 gain in 2024.
The decrease in net Dish TV subscriber losses “primarily resulted from a lower Dish TV churn rate, partially offset by lower gross new Dish TV subscriber activations,” EchoStar said in a regulatory filing. “The change in net Sling TV subscribers was primarily related to lower Sling TV subscriber activations, partially offset by lower Sling TV subscriber disconnects in 2025 due to our emphasis on acquiring higher quality subscribers.” The filing added: “We continue to experience increased competition, including competition from other subscription video on-demand and live-linear OTT service providers, many of which are providers of our content and offer football and other seasonal sports programming direct to subscribers on an a la carte basis. For example, in August 2025, ESPN Unlimited and Fox One sports packages were launched.”
Retail wireless subscribers decreased by approximately 9,000 in the fourth quarter, compared to an increase of 90,000 in the year-ago period. The company ended 2025 with 7.51 million retail wireless subscribers. And broadband subscribers dropped by approximately 44,000 in the fourth quarter, compared with a decrease of 59,000 in the fourth quarter of 2024. The company closed the quarter with 739,000 broadband subscribers.
The company’s fourth-quarter loss of $1.2 billion compared with a year-ago profit of $335 million, as revenue declined from $4.0 billion to $3.8 billion. Operating income before depreciation and amortization had hit $397 million in the year-ago period, but swung to a $567 million loss in the latest quarter.
EchoStar’s 2025 loss widened to $14.50 billion from $119.55 million in the year-ago period, “primarily attributable to non-cash asset impairments and other expenses totaling approximately $17.63 billion.” The net loss in 2024 was positively impacted by a noncash gain totaling approximately $689 million related to the firm’s debt exchange offer and the resulting debt extinguishment.
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