DBS subscriber base continues to grow............
Sep. 15, 1997
Vol. 5 - No. 180
DBS Sales Zoom in August; Industry Added 188,000 Subs
(Cable World) Despite what looked like Primestar Partners' worst month
ever, DBS subscriptions climbed by 188,000 in August as the three main
satellite TV providers started their autumn promotion drives early.
Figures compiled by SkyReport, a satellite TV industry newsletter, show
that DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar once again posted their strongest monthly
results of the year in Augand EchoStar once again posted their strongest
monthly results of the ye
But Primestar, the cable operator-backed DBS provider, suffered its
third poor month in a row. Preoccupied with its corporate restructuring
and pending acquisition of News Corp.'s DBS venture, Primestar said it
added only 500 subscribers in August, far below its usual pace.
Later in the week, the company revised its numbers to show a healthier
23,000 subscriber gain in August. But that's still low compared to the
other companies' increases and its own gains earlier in the year.
Not surprisingly, industry leader DirecTV registered the month's biggest
gain, adding 90,000 subscribers to reach the 2.8 million mark. That
exceeds a 71,000 subscriber gain in July and an 80,000 subscriber
increase in August 1996.
Third-placed EchoStar picked up ground on Primestar, adding 75,000
subscribers to hit 715,000. EchoStar added 50,000 customers in July and
43,000 the previous August.
Meanwhile, Primestar, once a much stronger No. 2 player, fell farther
behind DirecTV with its 23,000-customer gain. Its poor performance
follows a weak June and July, when the satellite TV operator initially
reported picking up only 12,000 and 9,000 customers, respectively. In
contrast, Primestar added 64,000 subscribers in August 1996.
Moreover, as part of the revised count, Primestar said its overall
numbers have been overstated by about 100,000 since the beginning of the
year. So instead of slightly over 1.9 million subscribers, the company
said it really has 1.79 million customers, or about 1 million less than
DirecTV.
A Primestar spokesperson blamed the weak numbers and confusing revision
on the company's corporate restructuring. The spokesperson also said
Primestar is "cleaning out" its subscriber files, eliminating non-paying
customers from its rolls as it prepares for its "rollup" into a public
company.
C-band subscriber losses narrowed to 324 in August, putting the big dish
total at 2.17 million. C-band has generally lost thousands of
subscribers each month for the last two years. (Alan Breznick)
Cowles/Simba Media Daily 9/15/97
Copyright 1997 Cowles Business Media. All rights reserved. |
