EchoStar Communications Corp., the second-biggest U.S. satellite-television broadcaster, said 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 year earlier, when EchoStar had a gain from settling a lawsuit. Revenue climbed 13 percent to $2.29 billion from $2.02 billion, the Englewood-based company said today 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 Officer Charles Ergen, 53, is battling to stop customers from moving by offering packages of phone, TV and Web access. EchoStar added a net 225,000 customers, down from 325,000 a year earlier.
EchoStar shares rose 13 cents to $32.25 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. They had risen 19 percent this year before today. DirecTV Group Inc., the largest U.S. satellite- television provider, gained 22 cents to $17.43 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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.
The proportion of customers EchoStar lost, or monthly churn, was 1.57 percent in the quarter, up from 1.44 percent a year earlier, according to the filing. Average monthly revenue per subscriber increased to $59.93 from $57 in the quarter. Subscriber acquisition costs rose to $665 from $623.
EchoStar had a total 12.3 million customers at end of the first quarter, while DirecTV reported 15.4 million.
Shares of El Segundo, California-based DirecTV shares had their biggest drop in eight months on May 4 after the company said it added 255,000 subscribers in the first quarter, missing analysts’ estimates. The company posted first-quarter profit of $235.2 million and said sales rose 7.6 percent as it raised prices for programming packages.
