Dish Network profit disappoints

Dish Network Corp., the nation’s No. 2 satellite television provider, reported a disappointing fourth-quarter profit as subscriber growth slowed amid tough competition and a sluggish economy.

The company posted a 14% increase in net income and a 12% rise in revenue for the quarter, but Chief Executive Charlie Ergen called the results disappointing from a sales perspective. He blamed fewer housing starts, competition from DirecTV Group Inc. and cable companies and delays in satellite launches that would have boosted Dish Network’s high-definition offerings.

Net income totaled $175 million, or 39 cents a share, compared with $153 million, or 35 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 12% to $2.89 billion.

Wall Street, on average, had expected earnings of 45 cents a share on revenue of $2.86 billion, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Shares of the Englewood, Colo.-based company fell $1.48, or 4.8%, to $29.18.

Dish Network added 85,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter to put the total at 13.78 million for the year. The total rose by 675,000 subscribers, or 5.2%, from December 2006.

By comparison, No. 1 satellite TV provider DirecTV added 474,000 subscribers during the fourth quarter to end 2006 with 16.8 million subscribers, up 6%.

Pacific Crest Securities analyst Steve Clement, who follows Dish Network, said the results were disappointing across the board. “Subscriber growth slowed down a little more than anyone was expecting,” he said.