Moody's placed all ratings for DISH Network Corp. and its subsidiary DISH DBS Corp. on review for downgrade.
The review followed the company's declining trends in operating performance, including the secular pressure on satellite pay TV subscriptions and on EBITDA. The ratings put on review for downgrade included the Ba3 corporate family rating and its Ba3 senior unsecured debt ratings, the rating agency said Feb. 21.
DISH ended 2017 with 13.2 million pay TV subscribers, including 11.0 million DISH TV subscribers and 2.2 million Sling TV subscribers. For the fourth quarter of 2017, DISH reported net income attributable to the company of $1.39 billion, or $2.64 per share, up from net income of $355.0 million, or 73 cents per share.
The increase was due in part to an income tax benefit of about $1.2 billion due to an adjustment to deferred tax assets and liabilities related to tax reform legislation, while the company was also negatively impacted by a $112 million impairment of long-lived assets.