Dish pitches Boost Infinite in first TV ads

Dish Network started running the first Boost Infinite commercials nationwide on June 14, signifying yet another step in its journey to becoming a full-fledged wireless service provider.

A Dish spokesperson said the primary goal of the advertising is to keep it simple with the Boost Infinite Unlimited plan. “We are providing customers unlimited talk, text and data on one of America’s top 5G networks for $25 per month. Forever,” the spokesperson told Fierce.

The current Boost Infinite commercials feature Brian O’Sullivan, who said on Instagram that he’s “thrilled to be the new spokesperson” for Boost Infinite.

Jeff Moore, principal of Wave7 Research, said his firm had been aware of some Boost Infinite online advertising, but this is the first they’ve seen of any Boost Infinite TV ads.

One of the ads features a woman with three manikins, which are being used to pose as her “family” so she can get $25/line. The pitchman tells her: “No, you don’t need a manikin family to get that $25 price” with Boost Infinite.

Dish’s pinning a lot of hopes on Boost Infinite, its first real postpaid brand. But the advertising, which appears minimal, combined with the dismal retail presence in physical stores are not real encouraging for its near-term prospects, according to Moore.

“It’s just a very, very weak effort overall from Boost Infinite,” Moore said. “I get it. They’re just getting started. Maybe they’ll do more, but right now, it’s just a very, very weak effort." Analysts at Wave7 Research recently spotted a Boost Infinite display at a Boost Mobile store in Aurora, Colorado, and sources told Wave7 a broader launch is expected in coming months, but Moore called the one Aurora store a "half-hearted effort" compared to the thousands of stores that T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T operate across the country.

It is possible to jump in and grab market share from the Big 3 wireless carriers because the cable companies, especially Comcast and Charter Communications, have shown how that can be done, he added. Between the mobile brands of Xfinity and Spectrum, they have more than 10 million lines, so “the path is there, but they’re not taking the path as yet.”

All eyes on Dish

As part of the U.S. government’s approval of the T-Mobile/Sprint merger, Dish Network was set up to become the nation’s fourth facilities-based wireless operator, and the Boost Infinite postpaid service is a big part of Dish’s strategy to becoming a full-fledged wireless carrier.

So far, Boost Mobile, the prepaid brand that Dish acquired from Sprint, has been losing customers as Dish struggled with customers migration and other issues. The postpaid brand, Boost Infinite, is where Dish expects to make a more profitable business in wireless as it fine tunes its homegrown 5G standalone (SA) network.

Earlier this month, Dish announced that it had met the FCC’s buildout requirement to offer a 5G broadband service to over 70% of the U.S. population, a mandate it had been forecasting it would make. The next big milestone – and a much harder one to meet – is to reach 75% of Partial Economic Areas (PEAs) by June 2025.

Dish’s stock has lost more than 50% of its value this year as worries continue around its ability to finance its full 5G network buildout in the current economy. It’s also seeing the departure of key executives, like Stephen Stokols, who was CEO of Boost Mobile, and earlier this year, Stephen Bye, who played a key role on the network team.

Last week, Dish disclosed in an SEC filing that Narayan Iyengar was resigning as EVP and chief operating officer effective June 23. He had been with the company since March 2022.