DISH: Profits up, subscribers down

Dish Network reported a 50 percent increase in net income versus the second quarter last year.

A combination of higher revenues and lower costs led to the bottom line boost which pushed profits well above analyst expectations.  But alas, Wall Street is not pleased!

DISH lost a net of 25,000 subscribers as competition from phone and cable companies chipped away at its subscriber base. The loss is causing analysts to question growth prospects and has prompted investors to sell the stock.  Shares were down as much as 7 percent in the first hour of trading.

As for the quarter’s higher revenues and lower costs…much of the higher revenue can be attributed to increased programming prices while much of the cost savings can be attributed to adding fewer new customers.  DISH added fewer new subscribers (752,000 vs. 850,000 Q2 last year), so its installation costs were lower.

DISH is the second largest satellite TV provider in the U.S., falling in line behind DirecTV.