While this concerns DISH’s TV service, I figured I’d post this here anyway:
EchoStar shakes up Dish’s video biz
Gary Schanman, EVP and group president of video services, and Ajinkya ‘Jinx’ Joglekar, SVP of acquisition marketing, have exited Dish. Their replacements have not been named.
By Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading - April 18, 2025
https://www.lightreading.com/video-streaming/echostar-shakes-up-dish-s-video-biz
Key leadership changes are underway at Dish that will affect the path forward for the company’s satellite TV and Sling TV businesses.
EchoStar, Dish’s corporate parent, confirmed that two Dish execs – Gary Schanman, EVP and group president of video services, and Ajinkya “Jinx” Joglekar, SVP of acquisition marketing – are no longer with the company.
Cord Cutters News was the first to report the news of their departures from Dish/EchoStar: https://cordcuttersnews.com/exclusive-fired-dish-sling-tv-leaders-gary-schanman-and-ajinkya-joglekar-let-go-in-strategic-shake-up/
TheDesk.net reported the moves were part of a broader restructuring at Dish: https://thedesk.net/2025/04/dish-network-gary-schanman-ajinkya-joglekar-depart/
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Moves follow scuttled DirecTV deal, ongoing pay-TV sub losses
Both execs depart as Dish’s video business continued to struggle following a failed attempt to merge with DirecTV, which terminated a proposed deal after Dish bondholders rejected it. The moves also come after EchoStar raised funds and executed a series of financial transactions that helped the company avoid a potential bankruptcy.
Dish’s pay-TV subscription base has been eroding, but remains an important cash generator to help fund EchoStar’s national 5G network deployment.
In Q4 2024, Dish shed 202,000 satellite TV subs, lowering that total to 5.68 million. Sling TV lost 51,000, bringing the total to 2.09 million. Dish ended 2025 with 7.77 million total pay-TV subs.
What now?
Dish is now in need of a new leader and an updated strategic direction for its struggling pay-TV business.
Schanman, the unit’s former leader, took the helm of Sling TV in April 2022, succeeding Michael Schwimmer in the role. Schanman, a cable and pay-TV industry vet late of Charter Communications and Cablevision Systems (now Altice USA), later took the lead of Dish’s full video business.
Under Schanman, Dish and Sling TV undertook several new initiatives aimed at gaining and retaining video subscribers, including the launch of a free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service for Sling TV, bundles that paired video with the Boost mobile service, and adding Netflix to the Dish satellite TV service for no additional cost for two years.
Joglekar joined Dish in 2022 as VP of marketing for Sling TV, and was later named SVP of acquisition marketing for Dish’s satellite TV and Sling TV services. He previously served in several e-commerce roles at Comcast.
Time to ‘rethink’ the strategy
Colin Dixon, co-founder and chief analyst at nScreenMedia, said he’s not surprised by the changes at Dish video business leadership. He believes Dish needs to “rethink its strategy” because “the way people are buying TV entertainment has changed forever.”
While Sling TV was smart to add FAST channels to its strategies, he believes that service also needs to focus on smaller, flexible, genre-based packages akin to what DirecTV is doing now with skinny bundles focused on sports and other programming categories. He also believes that Sling TV would be smart to expand its role as an aggregator and provide access to more direct-to-consumer streaming services along the lines of what Verizon is doing with its +play platform.
Meanwhile, he views Dish’s satellite TV business as being in “maintenance mode.” “The Sling TV side is where the future is, but they have to evolve that model,” Dixon explained.