Sling TV ended the first quarter of 2026 with less than 1.8 million subscribers. The latest update confirms a subscriber drop on the previous quarter and year.
What You Need to Know
- Sling TV fell to 1.79 million subscribers in Q1 2026, losing about 190,000 during the first three months of the year.
- Despite the rough quarter, Sling is down a more modest 100,000 compared to Q1 2025, reflecting its typical fluctuations.
- Dish TV dropped to 4.84 million subscribers, contributing to EchoStar’s total pay‑TV base falling to 6.6 million, down 366,000 from the previous quarter.
Overall, Sling TV subscribers totaled 1.79 million at the end of March 2026. With Sling TV having ended 2025 as a whole with 1.98 million subscribers, the live TV service lost around 190,000 subscribers during the first three months of the year.
Considering Sling TV lost around 15,000 subscribers during the fourth quarter of last year, the service has lost just over 200,000 subscribers over the past two full quarters.
Due to Sling’s tendency to fluctuate a lot over the course of the year, the picture doesn’t look quite as bad on a year-over-year basis.
With Sling having ended the first quarter of 2025 with 1.89 million subscribers, the live TV service lost around 100,000 subscribers over the past 12 months.
As part of its latest earnings release, EchoStar also confirmed the total number of Dish TV subscribers stood at 4.84 million at the end of the first quarter.
This marks a decline of around 180,000 on the 5.02 million reported for the fourth quarter, and a decline of around 670,000 on the 5.5 million reported for the first quarter of last year.
All in all, EchoStar reported a little over 6.6 million pay-TV subscribers for the end of the first quarter of 2026. A decline of around 366,000 on the previous quarter, and a drop of almost 770,000 on the 7.4 million reported for the first quarter of last year.
In terms of revenue, EchoStar reported total revenue of $3.67 billion for the first quarter 2026. Inclusive of EchoStar’s pay-TV, retail wireless, and broadband and satellite businesses, the figure represents a decline on the $3.87 billion reported for the first quarter of 2025.
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