Dish Network 1Q net income drops 26 percent

NEW YORK -- Dish Network Corp. said Monday that its first-quarter earnings fell less than expected as it attracted more customers to its low-cost satellite TV service and grew its revenue.

Dish said it added about 237,000 net subscribers in the first three months of the year, marking the company's fourth consecutive quarter of growth. A year ago, the Englewood, Colo., company was losing customers to its stronger cable TV rivals.

The company's stock jumped 98 cents, or 4.6 percent, to $22.28 in thin premarket trading.

Dish, the nation's second-biggest satellite TV provider behind DirecTV, earned $230.9 million, or 52 cents per share, for the period ended March 31. That compares with $312.7 million, or 70 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $3.06 billion from $2.91 billion, but expenses rose to $2.6 billion from $2.33 billion, partly on higher subscriber acquisition costs and a TiVo lawsuit expense.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, whose estimates normally exclude one-time items, forecast a smaller profit of 50 cents per share on revenue of $3.05 billion.

Dish Network's latest results show it is gaining some ground on its rivals.

DirecTV, which has about 18.7 million subscribers to Dish's 14.3 million, added only 100,000 U.S. customers in the first quarter, down from 460,000 net additions in the same quarter a year ago.

Cablevision Systems Corp. gained just 900 subscribers in the first quarter. Comcast Corp. lost 82,000 video customers in the same quarter and Time Warner Cable Inc. lost 42,000.