Today, DISH announced they are the largest company and first subscription model pay-TV provider to accept bitcoin, choosing Coinbase as their bitcoin payment processor.
DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), through its subsidiaries, provides more than 14 million pay-TV subscribers, as of March 31, 2014.DISH Network L.L.C. is a wholly owned subsidiary of DISH Network Corporation.
This marks a large step forward in the growing momentum of customers paying companies in bitcoin for things we do every day, like watching premium TV.DISH customers will be able to pay their bills online via bitcoin on mydish.com in the third quarter, with Coinbase.Coinbase declared « we are glad to be working with the DISH team, to serve their current and new subscribers with Coinbase as their easy to use bitcoin transaction platform ».The bitcoin payment option will be available for DISH customers choosing to make one-time payments on mydish.com starting in the third quarter.
Customers will still have the option to make any payment online via credit card, debit card or bank account.“We always want to deliver choice and convenience for our customers and that includes the method they use to pay their bills,” said Bernie Han, DISH executive vice president and chief operating officer.He added :“Bitcoin is becoming a preferred way for some people to transact and we want to accommodate those individuals.”DISH will use Coinbase’s Instant Exchange™ feature to exchange bitcoin payments to U.S. dollars at the moment of the transaction, to avoid any trading price volatility.
Coinbase Customers Base BoomingCoinbase is a bitcoin consumer wallet and merchant payment processing platform that, founded in June 2012, now powers 1.3 million consumer wallets and supports 31,000 merchants. Funded with $31 million from top venture investors.“We’re excited to support DISH and their current and new subscribers for their bitcoin transactions,” said Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam. “This is a large step forward in the growing momentum of customers paying companies in bitcoin for things we do every day, like watching premium TV.”“As a bitcoin payment processor, Coinbase will help DISH make the payment experience easy for our customers and make it easy for DISH to receive immediate credit in dollars, at an attractive cost for DISH,” added Han.
In addition to DISH coming on board to accept bitcoin, Coinbase’s recently announced a bitcoin drop to over 20,000 students. They will receive free bitcoin over the two weeks giveaway with Michigan (941), Berkeley (939) and Illinois (873) as the universities with the most sign-ups.
