Dish has lost its signal with investors

Published Thu, Feb 18 201612:24 PM EST

Breakingviews

Jennifer Saba

Dish Network may want to deliver a clear signal to investors soon. They have disconnected over the last year, erasing some 40 percent of the satellite-TV company's market value. More bad news is anticipated in the quarterly financial results due to be unveiled on Thursday. Enigmatic boss Charlie Ergen could help by fully explaining his ideas for a storehouse of lucrative airwaves. Renowned for his card-playing prowess, Ergen's poker face on spectrum is hurting not helping. It could be worth $22 billion, according to analysts at Barclays, which is more than the company's $20 billion market capitalization. Dish's chairman and CEO has said he could sell, lease or develop the spectrum as part of a two-part U.S. government auction set for next month. The fuzzy picture is a big reason for Dish's market underperformance. Over the past year, Verizon 's shares are up 3 percent. Those of AT & T , which last year acquired Dish's satellite rival DirecTV, have gained 6 percent. Time Warner Cable 's increased 27 percent. Making matters worse, Barclays also reckons that some 78,500 subscribers ditched Dish last year, shrinking the sum to under 14 million. To his credit, Ergen was one of the first distributors to offer a cheaper video-streaming service with fewer channels. Sling TV is aimed at younger customers who prefer not to pay for a bigger bundle of programming. Even Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger gave Sling a shoutout last week, while noting the uptick in customers of his sports network ESPN. More from Breakingviews: Uncle Sam's iPhone security order pure Apple sauce Even these potentially helpful signs are obscured, however. Dish doesn't break out Sling subscribers. MoffettNathanson estimates there are fewer than 400,000 of them. That's half as many as Time Warner signed up to its untethered version of HBO in its first year. Longer term, Ergen may be holding on to the spectrum to develop a better, more modern way to provide video services. He has hinted that Dish might even be a buyer of more and that a partnership with a wireless carrier could be in the offing. That might be tough for a company already so heavily indebted. Either way, it's time to stop with the static. Read More What the smart hedgies are buying For more independent commentary and analysisfrom Reuters Breakingviews, visit breakingviews.com

Dish Networks exhibit at CES 2016 in Las Vegas.

Justin Solomon | CNBC

Renowned for his card-playing prowess, Ergen's poker face on spectrum is hurting not helping. It could be worth $22 billion, according to analysts at Barclays, which is more than the company's $20 billion market capitalization. Dish's chairman and CEO has said he could sell, lease or develop the spectrum as part of a two-part U.S. government auction set for next month.