Key points
- EchoStar (ECHO) reported Q2 diluted EPS of $24.12, against a $1.06 loss a year earlier.
- About $9.73B of that was a non-cash gain from deconsolidating DISH DBS, which filed Chapter 11 on June 30.
- Revenue fell to $3.58B from $3.72B, and wireless lost 118,000 subscribers after adding 212,000 a year ago.
EchoStar (ECHO) reported net income of $8.46 billion for the second quarter of 2026 before the open on Monday, against a loss of $306 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Diluted earnings per share came to $24.12, compared with a loss of $1.06.
About $9.73 billion of that was a non-cash gain on deconsolidation. Revenue was $3.58 billion, down from $3.72 billion.
Where the $9.73 billion came from
DISH DBS Corporation and certain subsidiaries filed prepackaged Chapter 11 cases on June 30, 2026, the last day of EchoStar's second quarter. The cases are in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, and DISH Wireless L.L.C. is among the filing entities. The filing took DISH DBS off EchoStar's consolidated books.
DISH DBS had $2.0 billion of 7.75% senior secured notes maturing July 1, 2026. Holders of more than 88% of its secured and unsecured notes, who also hold more than $8.8 billion of DISH Wireless debt, signed the restructuring support agreement behind the plan. The filing entities are targeting emergence before the end of the third quarter.
DISH DBS is the entity behind DISH TV and Sling TV, so both sit inside the cases. EchoStar itself, Hughes Satellite Systems Corporation and the entities that operate Boost Mobile and Gen Mobile are not included. EchoStar said its brands, customers, operations and employees would not be affected.
The AT&T money landed four weeks after the notes came due
AT&T (T) closed its $23 billion purchase of EchoStar spectrum on July 28, 2026, under a deal announced on August 26, 2025. It covers about 30 MHz of nationwide 3.45 GHz mid-band spectrum and about 20 MHz of nationwide 600 MHz low-band spectrum.
EchoStar said in its June 30 announcement that the AT&T transaction would deliver $20.25 billion in net proceeds to fund repayment of DISH DBS debt, and that the closing had been delayed. The notes matured July 1. The deal closed July 28.
EchoStar has now sold spectrum to two buyers inside a year. SpaceX (SPCX) agreed in September 2025 to buy $17 billion of it for its Starlink Direct to Cell service, in a transfer the FCC approved on May 12, 2026.
None of those proceeds sit in the June 30 balance sheet. EchoStar ended the quarter with $440 million in cash and equivalents, $1.06 billion in current restricted cash and securities, and $56 million in marketable investment securities. Long-term debt net of the current portion was $15.99 billion, with another $1.45 billion in the current portion.
What the quarter looked like
| Metric | Q2 2026 | Q2 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | $3.58B | $3.72B |
| Net income to EchoStar | $8.46B | -$306M |
| Diluted EPS | $24.12 | -$1.06 |
| Adjusted OIBDA | $681M | $280M |
| Pay-TV net subscriber loss | 241,000 | 261,000 |
| Wireless net subscriber change | -118,000 | +212,000 |
| Broadband net subscriber loss | 59,000 | 34,000 |
Revenue by segment was $2.25 billion in pay-TV, $929 million in wireless, $317 million in broadband and satellite services, and $92 million in other. Pay-TV supplied $601 million of the $681 million in adjusted OIBDA.
The adjusted number depends on who is doing the adjusting
EchoStar put adjusted net income at about $49.46 million once the deconsolidation gain is excluded. On the 350.7 million diluted shares implied by the reported EPS, that is about 14 cents a share.
The Associated Press earnings snapshot put adjusted EPS at 19 cents, against a consensus that called for a loss of 28 cents a share. The two figures use different adjustments and the company did not reconcile them in the release.
All three businesses lost subscribers
Pay-TV ended the quarter at 6.39 million subscribers, 4.68 million on DISH TV and 1.71 million on Sling TV. Wireless ended at 7.38 million and broadband at 622,000.
Wireless added 212,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2025 and lost 118,000 in the second quarter of 2026.
The ticker changed in July
EchoStar trades on Nasdaq as ECHO. It traded as SATS until the rename in July 2026, and coverage published before then, including ours, still carries the old symbol.
The stock closed at $84.09 on Friday, after space and satellite stocks sold off broadly on July 31. Two other satellite-communications names, Viasat (VSAT) and Globalstar (GSAT), closed that session at $76.93 and $83.38. ECHO changed hands at $87.00 shortly after 10:30 a.m. Eastern on Monday, and the earnings call is at 12 p.m. Eastern.
"EchoStar has been at the forefront of telecommunications for over 45 years, and these steps will position the business for an even stronger future," said Charlie Ergen, co-founder and chairman of EchoStar, when the restructuring was announced.
