EchoStar Earnings Drop 34%
EchoStar Communications Corp., the second-largest U.S. satellite television service, said Monday that second-quarter profit fell 34% as the company spent more on programming and customer-support systems.
Net income fell to $85.3 million, or 18 cents a share, from $128.8 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier, Englewood, Colo.-based EchoStar said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sales rose 26% to $1.78 billion.
EchoStar’s revenue rose as it added 340,000 subscribers during the quarter, for a total of 10.1 million. The company and El Segundo-based DirecTV Group Inc., with 13 million subscribers, are taking customers from cable TV operators.
Satellite TV service is generally less expensive than cable and offers more channels in regions where cable firms haven’t upgraded to digital systems.
EchoStar said subscriber- related expenses rose 38% to $900.8 million.
The profit fell short of the average estimate of 23 cents a share from 19 analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. Revenue topped the average estimate of $1.67 billion.
EchoStar shares rose as much as $1.29, or 4.7%, to $28.55 in extended trading. Earlier, the shares fell 63 cents to $27.26 on Nasdaq.
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