Dish and its OnTech unit will market and sell ADT services in an agreement that comes a few years after EchoStar shut down its DIY-focused SAGE by Hughes smart home/security offering.

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

February 24, 2021

2 Min Read
Dish connects with ADT on home security

Dish Network is back in the home security services game after striking a partnership with ADT that enables the satellite TV service provider to market, sell and install ADT products.

The deal is expected to help ADT expand into rural and exurban areas through Dish and OnTech Smart Services, a unit of Dish launched in 2019. OnTech sells and installs a wide range of smart home products and other consumer electronics such as Roku video streamers, Google Nest, Ring and Linksys products and over-the-air TV antennas.

Figure 1: Dish launched OnTech Smart services in June 2019. Dish launched OnTech Smart services in June 2019.

The deal, which follows Google's recent $450 million equity investment in ADT, could provide a fresh revenue stream for Dish. Dish, which has focused its satellite TV activity to rural markets of late, ended 2020 with 8.82 million satellite TV subscribers.

Dish expects to start rolling out ADT services in early Q2 2020. Pricing on ADT offerings through Dish haven't been announced, but Dish customers and OnTech+ members will have access to "special offers and pricing," a Dish official said. OnTech+ members currently get 10% off all products sold through OnTech, including ADT security systems.

Though Dish's OnTech unit sells and installs smart home products linked to home security systems, the ADT agreement deals Dish back into the home security services game in a bigger way.

Dish corporate cousin EchoStar introduced a do-it-yourself home security/home automation offering called SAGE by Hughes in March 2016. However, the product, which allowed control via the TV or through mobile apps, didn't survive in the market for a full year – EchoStar shut it down in fall 2016.

Home security and automation products have been hit and miss for the service provider segment. A couple years after being acquired by AT&T, DirecTV sold off LifeShield, another DIY product offering.

Meanwhile, Comcast recently added a slimmed-down, DIY-focused video security service that complements its broader Xfinity Home product. Comcast had 1.37 million security and automation customers at the end of Q4 2019, the last time the cable operator broke out those figures.

Verizon launched TechSure in March 2018, offering a set of tiers covering things such as phone support for device connectivity, identity theft protection and computer virus protection. The telco has since replaced TechSure with a service called Verizon Protect Home. AT&T continues to market and sell its Digital Life product line.

— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading

About the Author(s)

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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