Dish Network 3rd-quarter profit falls

[Slamminc11]

Dish Network 3rd-quarter profit falls

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Dish Network Corp. said Monday third-quarter profit fell 12 percent as its subscriber base edged up.
The second-largest satellite TV provider in the U.S. says profit totaled $81 million, down from $92 million a year ago.
Revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 edged down nearly 2 percent to $2.89 billion from $2.94 billion last year.
Dish says it gained about 241,000 net subscribers, up nearly 2 percent to 13.9 million.

Dish Network 3rd-quarter profit falls - Yahoo! News

 

[tigerfan33]

I wonder if Charlie will be happy with more subs or less cash this time.

 

[Slamminc11]

I would say that netting 241,000 net subs should make him pretty pleased. Especially since they didn't have ATT to help them out like DTV had.

 

[simplexswrhs90]

I think all the ads on the web and the new TV ads "Why Pay More" can be attributed to the 241,000 new subscribers.

The new marketing is really helping it looks like.

 

[HDRoberts]

Dish had 241k, DirecTV had 298k. Reasonably proportional to their existing sub counts. Plus, around half of DirecTV's ads were in their Latin America service. I bet the Dish ads were primarily English.

Dish is poised to do quite well. With the 922, they should so even better.

 

[tigerfan33]

Won't Chuckie have a presser today??

Edit: Yep. Today

http://dish.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=417920

 

[dennispap]

Here is the dish release
DISH Network - Investor Relations - 1.888.825.2557

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

DISH NETWORK CORPORATION REPORTS ​

THIRD QUARTER 2009 FINANCIAL RESULTS ​

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Nov. 9, 2009 – DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) today reported total revenue of $2.892 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, a 1.5 percent decrease compared with $2.937 billion for the corresponding period in 2008.
Net income attributable to common shareholders totaled $81 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, compared with $92 million during the corresponding period in 2008. Basic earnings per share were $0.18 for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, compared with basic earnings per share of $0.20 during the corresponding period in 2008.
DISH Network gained approximately 241,000 net subscribers during the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, ending the quarter with approximately 13.851 million subscribers.
Detailed financial data and other information are available in DISH Network’s Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended Sept. 30, 2009, filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
DISH Network will host its Third Quarter 2009 financial results conference call today at noon ET. The dial-in number is (800) 616-6729.

One-Time Dividend
On Nov. 6, 2009, DISH Network Corporation’s Board of Directors declared a one-time dividend of $2.00 per share on outstanding Class A and Class B common stock. The dividend will be payable in cash on Dec. 2, 2009, to shareholders of record on Nov. 20, 2009.

 

[digiblur]

So it was a failure on E3 a couple of months ago...

EchoStar III. EchoStar III was originally designed to operate a maximum of 32 DBS transponders in full continental United States ("CONUS") mode at approximately 120 watts per channel, switchable to 16 transponders operating at over 230 watts per channel, and was equipped with a total of 44 traveling wave tube amplifiers ("TWTAs") to provide redundancy. As a result of TWTA failures in previous years and an additional pair of TWTA failures during August 2009, only 16 transponders are currently available for use. Due to redundancy switching limitations and specific channel authorizations, we are currently operating on 14 of our FCC authorized frequencies at the 61.5 degree orbital location. While the failures have not reduced the original minimum 12-year design life of the satellite, it is likely that additional TWTA failures will occur from time to time in the future, and such failures could further impact commercial operation of the satellite.

EchoStar XII. Prior to 2009, EchoStar XII experienced anomalies resulting in the loss of electrical power available from its solar arrays. During March and May 2009, EchoStar XII experienced more of these anomalies, which further reduced the electrical power available to operate EchoStar XII. We currently operate EchoStar XII in CONUS/spot beam hybrid mode. If we continue to operate the satellite in this mode, as a result of this loss of electrical power, we would be unable to use the full complement of its available transponders for the 12-year design life of the satellite. However, since the number of useable transponders on EchoStar XII depends on, among other things, whether EchoStar XII is operated in CONUS, spot beam, or hybrid CONUS/spot beam mode, we are unable to determine at this time the actual number of transponders that will be available at any given time or how many transponders can be used during the remaining estimated life of the satellite. Additionally, there can be no assurance that future anomalies will not cause further losses, which could impact the remaining useful life or commercial operation of EchoStar XII. As a result of the May 2009 anomalies on EchoStar XII, we determined that we had a triggering event related to EchoStar XII. See discussion of evaluation of impairment in "Long-Lived Satellite Assets" below. Based on this triggering event we performed an impairment review of the satellite using an undiscounted cash flow model and concluded that the estimated undiscounted cash flows associated with EchoStar XII were still in excess of its carrying value and therefore no impairment was required.

 

[Greg Bimson]

Good for them. It appears DISH is in the process of "righting the ship".

 

[navychop]

Given the state of the economy, I'd say they're doing quite well.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I am listening to the earnings call, nothing to earth shattering, but there is a guy here asking questions who is way to excited and has no idea what hes asking.

Kind of funny.

 

[Jhon69]

Given the state of the economy, I'd say they're doing quite well.

Need to wait for the next quarter alot of DirecTV subscribers are leaving...I did.

 

[damjr]

Dish had 241k, DirecTV had 298k. Reasonably proportional to their existing sub counts. Plus, around half of DirecTV's ads were in their Latin America service. I bet the Dish ads were primarily English.

Dish is poised to do quite well. With the 922, they should so even better.

Where did you get that # for DTV? They ended up with 136k not 298k.

 

[jacmyoung]

Where did you get that # for DTV? They ended up with 136k not 298k.

I was wondering the same thing, I thought I read 140K net gain by D*, and in large part attributed to the ATT new accounts gained.

The 240K net gain by E*, while losing the ATT accounts, is indeed surprising.

Here is the more interesting detail.

TiVo asked for nearly $1B payment from E*, while Judge Folsom did not give nearly as much, E* did go out and borrow the $1B, then hands out the money to its investors. Looks to me almost as if Charlie is giving TiVo the finger

 

[Jhon69]

Where did you get that # for DTV? They ended up with 136k not 298k.

That's the total amount as it was reported here for DirecTV Latin and DirecTV US.

The DIRECTV Group, Inc. - The DIRECTV Group Announces Third Quarter 2009 Results

 

[hrxtreme]

So Apples to Apples... DISH had more net subs added?

 

[mike123abc]

The 136k DIRECTV is the real number here, the distribution in the US is the real story. Both DBS companies appear to be drawing in new customers, perhaps with the digital TV transition and from cable.

I wonder how many of the very low price starter packs Dish sold as people worried about the transition. It is an outstanding improvement on Dish's part. They really seem to be regaining momentum with 241K added.

 

[BobaBird]

SAC. SAC was $694 during the three months ended September 30, 2009 compared to $735 during the same period in 2008, a decrease of $41, or 5.6%. This decrease was primarily attributable to a change in sales mix, a decrease in advertising costs and hardware costs per activation. The decrease in hardware cost per activation principally related to a reduction in manufacturing costs, partially offset by an increase in deployment of more advanced set-top boxes, such as HD receivers and HD DVRs.

and

The $0.31 or 0.4% decrease in ARPU [from $69.82 in 3Q08 to $69.51 in 3Q09] was primarily attributable to an increase in the amount of promotional discounts on programming offered to our new subscribers and retention initiatives offered to existing subscribers, and a decrease in premium movie revenue. This decrease was partially offset by price increases in February 2009 to existing subscribers on some of our most popular programming packages, an increase in revenue from local programming and changes in the sales mix toward HD programming packages and advanced hardware offerings.

I take "change in sales mix" to imply new subscribers are getting better packages, even though the shift to HD is being more than offset by the loss of premiums.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

So Apples to Apples... DISH had more net subs added?

That is correct sir.