Admittedly, 1% isn’t much of a gain, but against the headwinds of the Q4 economy it is impressive that satellite TV provider Dish Network managed to increase its revenues to $2.92 billion. Also, the company was holding the line on costs and net income increased despite a net loss of subscribers for the quarter.
But Wall Street always looks ahead and the stock took a hit Monday on indications that subscriber losses would continue in 2009. Dish Network fell 11.7% to close at $9.93.
Q4 net income rose to $217 million from only $175 million a year earlier. Earnings per share increased to 48 cents from 39 cents.
The bad news was in the subscriber numbers. Dish lost a net 102,000 subscribers in Q4 – its biggest loss ever.
A month after the quarter ended, Dish Network’s partnership with AT&T ended, as the phone company began a new partnership with Dish’s larger rival, DirecTV. Dish noted that AT&T had been a “substantial contributor” to its past subscriber growth.
