EchoStar has released its Q3 earnings numbers, and they are not great. The company reported a very modest gain in its pay-TV operations overall having lost 152,000 Dish TV subscribers but picking up 159,000 subs for its Sling TV division. Total subscribers stood at 7.16 million at the end of September.

There was much better news on its spectrum activity and reports that SpaceX had taken EchoStar’s ‘unpaired’ AWS-3 licences and paid about $2.6 billion for the frequencies (paid for in SpaceX shares). This takes the total paid by SpaceX to EchoStar to more than $20 billion. AT&T paid $22.65 billion to EchoStar for terrestrial frequencies.

EchoStar’s CEO and president is/was Hamid Akhavan, with Ergen serving as EchoStar’s executive chairman, but that changed on November 6th. The company is launching a new division: EchoStar Capital to “fuel further growth opportunities for EchoStar.”

Akhavan will serve as CEO at this new enterprise, with Ergen taking back his roles as President and CEO of EchoStar Corp, and where he will look after the pay-TV and wireless business units.

As to the new spectrum sale to SpaceX, Akhavan said: “This transaction with SpaceX, in addition to our previously announced spectrum transactions and commercial agreements, will strengthen EchoStar’s ability to develop new business opportunities and growth in value for our shareholders. The combination of AWS-3 uplink, AWS-4 and H-block spectrum from EchoStar with the rocket launch and satellite manufacturing capabilities from SpaceX accelerates the realisation of powerful and economical direct-to-cell service offerings for consumers and enterprises worldwide, including our Boost Mobile customers.”

“EchoStar will soon be in the unique position of having substantial available capital, vastly changing its scope of opportunities. Through EchoStar Capital we will fuel EchoStar’s growth into new and complementary arenas, beyond its successful pay-TV, wireless and enterprise business units,” added Akhavan.

EchoStar’s 9-month total revenue was $11.21 billion. EchoStar’s Hughes division deliver $346 million in revenues for Q3 and held 783,000 subscribers.

EchoStar’s Q3 key highlights:

• Cash & Equivalents: $4.1 billion
• Revenue: $3.6 billion, down -7 per cent YoY
• Net Loss: $(12.7) million vs $(0.2) million YoY
• Broadband & SatService Subs: 783k
• Establishes EchoStar Capital Division

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Tags: charlie ergen, dissh tv, Echostar