Satellite TV service is on a roll: Number two Dish Network said this morning that it signed up more customers despite the economy.
The company added 241,000 net new subscribers in the three months, ended Sept. 30. That’s much better than last year when Dish lost 10,000 customers.
Satellite rival DirecTV also added customers, while cable providers Time Warner Cable and Comcast both reported losing customers. Cox Cable is privately held and does not report its results. Internet-based TV providers Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse both saw increases.
One reason is price. A look at Dish Network’s current “Best Deal” offers first-time customers 100+ channels for $24.99 a month with a 1-year commitment (regular price is $39.99/month). (Time Warner Cable’s standard rate for digital cable’s 200+ channels is $42, though a 2-year commitment can push the price lower.)
Such discounts pushed Dish’s expenses 5.8 percent higher than last year, up $89 million to $1.623 billion, according to the company’s regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission.
| TV service | 3Q new subscribers |
|---|---|
| AT&T U-verse | 240,000 |
| Comcast | -656,000 |
| Cox | n/a |
| DirecTV | 136,000 |
| Dish Network | 241,000 |
| Time Warner Cable | -84,000 |
| Verizon FiOS | 191,000 |
Part of that higher expense also went to higher programming fees, which the TV channels charge on a per-subscriber basis.
All of this ultimately meant that Dish made a little less money per customer than last year. Dish’s average revenue per customer declined to $69.51, compared to $69.82 in third quarter last year.
But if you’re a customer and you feel like you’re paying more, you are. The decline was offset by price increases in Feb. 2009.
Dish ended the quarter with 13.851 million subscribers, which is nearly 1 million more than Time Warner Cable.
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