Survival Mode

Who really wants to be in the satellite business these days?

Never mind the ongoing economic troubles that are facing all multiplatform companies. The dish industry has found itself facing its own slate of woes.

Consider the following:

*Earlier this week, DISH Network reported its second consecutive quarter of subscriber losses. The No. 2 DBS platform saw its customer base fall by 10,000 to 13.78 million in the third quarter.

*Sirius XM reported a 344,000 net subscriber gain for the third quarter, taking its total to 18.92 million. However, the satellite radio giant is dealing with a meltdown in car sales - a critical component for its business, reduced consumer spending at retail and the weight of debt that's due next year.

*DIRECTV may be the bright spot in the business. The top DBS service grew its customer base to 17.32 million during the third quarter. And the company is bullish about its fourth quarter prospects, hoping to achieve net subscriber additions in the low to mid 200,000 range.

*Nonetheless, satellite TV doesn't have its own triple-play bundle. The companies have relationships with telcos to package small dish services with broadband and voice (DIRECTV has the big phone companies and DISH has medium-sized telcos and its AT&T relationship through the end of January). Yet, some observers, including those on Wall Street, continue to think that the lack of a bundle is a disadvantage for satellite TV.

Given those challenges, how can satellite stay afloat in today's worrisome economic environment?

The business has always been good at taking away market share, especially from incumbent competitors. DBS continues to take on cable. Satellite radio keeps stealing listeners away from traditional AM/FM stations. That's not a bad strategy for the industry.

Still, it's not going to get any easier for satellite in the coming weeks, months and quarters. The industry - along with all of the other competing players - is in survival mode.

As DISH CEO Charlie Ergen said earlier this week, maybe it's not a bad idea to tread a little water for a period of time.