Dish Network (DISH) Stock Up Despite FCC Ruling

Dish Network (DISH) stock is up even though FCC Chariman Wheeler says the agency 'will refrain from new programming-dispute rules for now.'
By Natalie Walters ,

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Dish Network (DISH) - Get Report are up by 0.91% to $53.01 in mid-afternoon trading on Thursday, despite FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's announcement that the agency won't write new rules to govern the fee disputes between pay-TV providers and broadcasters. 

"What we need is not more rules, but for both sides in retransmission consent negotiations to take seriously their responsibility to consumers," Wheeler said in an e-mailed statement released Thursday afternoon.

Fighting between pay-TV providers and broadcasters over the cost of programming has picked up in recent years, and this decision acts as a win for broadcasters and a loss for cable and Dish TV, Bloomberg reports.

DISH has been fighting rising programming costs because it has to keep raising service prices, pushing customers toward cheaper options like Netflix (NFLX), Bloomberg wrote. The Englewood, CO-based pay-TV provider is currently in a dispute with Tribune Media (TRCO) that's led to 42 channels being blacked out in 33 markets since June.

The American Television Alliance, which includes Dish, was hoping the FCC would order broadcast shows to return to pay-TV systems, while The National Association of Broadcasters is celebrating the agency's decision, Bloomberg said.  

Separately, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate DISH NETWORK CORP as a Hold with a ratings score of C+. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in net income, revenue growth and expanding profit margins. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself and generally higher debt management risk.

You can view the full analysis from the report here: DISH

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