DISH Network Adds Google Nest Hello To Hopper And Wally

DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) recently introduced Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Nest Hello doorbell to its Hopper and Wally receivers.

The new update allows customers to pair their Google Nest Account with DISH Hopper or Wally and receive notifications, including an image, directly on their TVs when their Nest Hello is pressed.

Notably, DISH is the first Pay-TV provider to integrate a Google Nest Device into its ecosystem. Moreover, Nest Hello is only the first in a series of Google Nest integrations on DISH’s platforms.

New Integration to Strengthen Platform Value

The integration of Google Nest Hello is in line with DISH’s focus on bringing voice control features to its platforms to improve their value and provide greater satisfaction to its customers.

Notably, the company has already rolled out a software update on Hopper that allows customers to access Google Assistant via DISH voice remote. It also launched a Google-branded voice remote to complement this new integration.

The company also expanded its voice control integration portfolio, with the integration of Josh.ai, a leader in voice control solutions for the custom integration market.

Notably, in 2017, DISH became the first TV provider to integrate Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) digital assistant Alexa on its platforms. This allowed DISH customers with a Hopper or Wally to watch hands-free TV using Alexa’s voice functionality.

DISH’s Service Quality to Counter Intense Competition

DISH’s focus on providing quality service based on partnerships with Google and Amazon is expected to help it acquire and retain more subscribers in the long term.

Notably, in September 2019, the company was ranked #1 in Overall Customer Satisfaction for the second year in a row in the U.S. Television Service Provider Satisfaction Study by J.D. Power.

Nevertheless, increasing programming and content expenses as well as higher retransmission fees are likely to hurt DISH’s overall profitability.

The company is also facing stiff competition in Pay TV market, currently dominated by AT&T (NYSE:T) Premium TV and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) . Per Statista, both AT&T and Comcast had 20.42 million Pay TV subscribers each as of the end of November 2019, whereas DISH was at the third place with a subscriber count of 9.49 million.

Further increasing cord-cutting due to higher adoption of subscription-based video on demand services like Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) TV+ and Disney+ is expected to continue to negatively impact DISH’s subscriber base.

Zacks Rank

DISH currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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