DirecTV Reports Strong Growth in United States, Latin America

[Satellite Today 08-08-08] DirecTV Group., Inc. reported second quarter 2008 revenues of $4.8 billion, an increase of 16 percent over the same period a year ago, the company announced Aug. 7. Net income improved 2 percent to $455 million in the same period.
    DirecTV U.S. revenues climbed 13 percent to $4.2 billion, driven by subscriber growth and a churn rate of 1.5 percent, the lowest second quarter monthly churn rate in four years. Average revenue per user climbed 7 percent.
    “Much of our success in adding new subscribers, reducing churn and increasing household revenue can be attributed to the significant increase in subscribers with [high-definition] and/or [personal video recorder] services over the past year,” Chase Carey, the company’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
    Net subscriber additions for DirecTV Latin America increased 30 percent to 184,000, mostly due to strong growth in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. Revenues jumped 49 percent to $611 million and operating profit before depreciation and amortization increased 69 percent to $161 million, primarily due to strong subscriber and average revenue per user growth.