DirecTV 3Q Profit Nearly Quadruples
Wednesday November 8, 8:25 am ET
DirecTV 3Q Profit Nearly Quadruples on Higher Revenue, Lower Defection Rate
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) -- Satellite television broadcaster DirecTV Group Inc. said Wednesday its third-quarter profit nearly quadrupled, driven by higher revenue and a lower rate of customer defection.
Shares of the company controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. climbed $1.41, or 6.5 percent, to $23.25 in premarket trading.
Its earnings surged to $370 million, or 30 cents per share, in the three months ended Sept. 30, up from $95 million, or 7 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue rose 13 percent to $3.67 billion from $3.23 billion last year.
The results surpassed Wall Street's consensus estimates of 27 cents per share on revenue of $3.61 billion, according to Thomson Financial.
DirecTV added 165,000 net subscribers at its core U.S. unit in the period. Gross subscriber additions fell 9 percent. Average monthly churn rate, a measurement of the pace of customer defection, edged lower to 1.8 percent from 1.89 percent last year.
Average monthly revenue per subscriber rose to $72.74 from $68.65. Last year, DirecTV began targeting customers less likely to miss their monthly payments and more likely to purchase extra services such as high definition and pay-per-view broadcasts.
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