UPDATE 4-Dish beats on subscribers, sets special dividend

* Gains 241,000 net subscribers

* Sets special dividend of $2 per share

* Shares rise 3.8 percent

* Q3 EPS 41 cts ex-items, missing Wall St view of 43 cts

* Q3 rev $2.89 bln, down 1.5 percent, vs est $2.93 bln (Adds CEO quotes, updates share move)

NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Dish Network Corp (DISH.O), the No. 2 U.S. satellite TV provider, beat Wall Street forecasts by posting a gain of 241,000 subscribers in the third quarter and surprised investors with a plan to pay shareholders a special dividend of $2 a share.

Shares rose 3.8 percent in afternoon trading.

Analysts at Bernstein Research had forecast that Dish, which has been losing subscribers in recent quarters, would lose 9,000 subscribers while analysts at Kaufman Bros had expected Dish to add 30,000.

Bernstein's Craig Moffett said Dish had managed to achieve the growth through a combination of greatly reducing the rate at which it loses existing subscribers and by increasing its gross additions of new customers.