DirecTV‘s profits more than doubled in the 2006 second quarter to $459 million, as revenues improved 10 percent to $3.5 billion, DirecTV announced Aug. 8. In the 2005 second quarter, DirecTV reported a profit of $162 million on revenues of $3.2 billion.

“In many ways, the results in the quarter reflect our strategy to target higher quality subscribers,” Chase Carey, president and CEO of DirecTV Group Inc., said in a statement. “For example, although gross subscriber additions of 863,000 and net additions of 125,000 in the quarter were below expectations, it’s important to note that we added 11 percent more higher quality gross subscribers in the quarter compared to last year. This trend, which is driving both the top-line and bottom-line financial results, is primarily due to the ongoing changes we’re making to refine our credit policy and dealer network.”

Monthly churn dipped to 1.6 percent in the 2006 second quarter, which closed June 30. In the second quarter of 2005, monthly churn was 1.7 percent. Average revenue per user grew nearly 6 percent over the same period.