EchoStar Communications Corp., the second-largest U.S. satellite-television broadcaster, said Wednesday its first-quarter profit fell 54 percent as subscriber growth slowed.
Net income dropped to $147.3 million, or 33 cents a share, from $317.5 million, or 69 cents a share, a year earlier, when EchoStar had a gain from settling a lawsuit. Revenue climbed 13 percent to $2.29 billion from $2.02 billion, the Douglas County-based company said in regulatory filing.
Customer growth slowed from last year as cable companies such as Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc. stepped up competition. EchoStar chief executive Charlie Ergen, 53, is battling to stop customers from switching by offering packages of phone, TV and Web access. EchoStar added a net 225,000 customers, down from 325,000 a year earlier.
Excluding a $134 million gain from settling an insurance lawsuit, profit in the year-earlier period was about 42 cents a share.
The average estimate of 13 analysts in a Thomson Financial survey was for first-quarter profit of 46 cents a share. Thomson doesn’t say what’s included in its estimates. Sales estimates averaged $2.28 billion.
