Dish Earnings Fall as Costs Increase

Dish Network Corp. said first-quarter profit fell 18% as the satellite-television provider's higher expenses offset a rise in revenue.

The results come at a time of significant potential for consolidation in the pay-TV market, with the two largest cable companies-- Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc.--looking to merge in a $45 billion deal, and AT&T Inc. recently approaching DirecTV for a possible tie-up. Dish more than a decade ago attempted the merge with DirecTV, and Dish CEO Charlie Ergen recently signaled that his company could consider engaging DirecTV again.

Dish posted earnings of $175.9 million, or 38 cents a share, down from $215.6 million, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 6.5% to $3.59 billion, but total costs rose 7.7%.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected earnings of 44 cents a share and revenue of $3.58 billion.

Dish, which has struggled to boost its subscriber numbers, added 40,000 net pay-TV subscribers, versus a net gain of 36,000 during the same period a year earlier. The company ended the period with about 14.1 million pay-TV subscribers, nearly flat from a year earlier.

The company also added about 53,000 net broadband subscribers in the quarter, versus additions of 66,000 in the previous year's quarter.

Write to Ben Fox Rubin at [e-mail]

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