Dish Network Beats, Adds Subscribers (DISH, DTV)

Satellite TV service Dish Network Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH) reported fourth quarter and full-year earnings this morning. The company posted quarterly EPS of $0.70, an increase of 25% from the same period a year ago, and well above the consensus estimate of $0.62. Revenues also rose year-over-year, from $3.21 billion to $3.63 billion, up 13%, and better than the consensus estimate of $3.62 billion.

From Dish’s point of view, the best news is that the company has stopped bleeding subscribers. The company added 22,000 new subscribers in the fourth quarter, although subscriptions fell by 166,000 for the full year. The company has nearly 14 million subscribers, about 14% of the US total of pay-TV subscribers. It competes most directly with DirecTV Inc. (NASDAQ: DTV), but Dish’s subscribers are generally lower income and more likely to cancel subscriptions when the economy tightens.