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The Gadgetress ~ TV, mobile and Internet: Covering technology's monthly bill

Archive for the 'earnings' Tag

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Most TV viewers pay $70/month or more for service

March 4th, 2010, 2:45 pm by

Now that 2009 numbers are in, how much did the average person pay for TV service?

A lot! At least $70 a month!

Scanning public documents, I set up a handy chart for consumers to see how much money TV services are collecting from subscribers each month.

Please note that some of these prices may include Internet and phone service (cable and Internet providers) while others only include TV service (satellite providers).

Also, these numbers are what the companies call the average monthly revenue per subscriber. I like to think of this as the monthly bill, but technically, the numbers can also include business customers and other fees, which skews what the monthly bills really are. Here are the results, in no particular order:
TV service 2008 2009 change
Dish Network $69.27 $70.04 1.1%
DirecTV $83.90 $85.48 1.9%
Time Warner Cable $92.44 $97.83 5.8%
Verizon FiOS $133.00 $140.00 5.3%
AT&T U-verse $61.75* n/a*
Comcast $111.05 $118.20 6.4%
Cox** n/a n/a
Source: All numbers are based on public annual reports from the companies.
* AT&T’s 2008 figure includes cheaper DSL service. The company did not release the price for 2009.
** Cox is a private company and does not release its numbers.

With more fee disputes between TV networks and the TV services, prices aren’t expected to go down any time soon. One analyst estimates cable TV customers pay $100 a month. Plus, we heard from Time Warner this week that Internet has replaced the cable TV as the company’s core product so Internet prices may go up too (read: “Time Warner toys with raising Internet prices.”)

But some have hinted at expanding plans and offering some lower-priced packages. Perhaps when online TV services like TV Everywhere from Time Warner and Comcast become available, a wider variety of lower-priced options for paying customers will open up.
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Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 43 Comments »

Dish added customers, as monthly bills rose in 2009

March 1st, 2010, 8:10 am by

Results are in for Dish Network Corp. (DISH) and just like all other TV providers who aren’t cable companies, it grew.

The company ended 2009 with 422,000 net new subscribers, which brings its grand total to 14.1 million subscribers. During the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, Dish added 249,000 customers. That’s about 15 percent of U.S. consumers who pay for TV service, according to Dish’s regulatory filing.

Financially, the company continued to make money, too. In the fourth quarter, Dish made $179 million in net income on revenues of $2.96 billion. That, however, was not as good as the prior fourth quarter, when Dish’s net income was $217 million. Last year, AT&T ended its partnership with Dish to offer TV service to wireless customers (AT&T switched to DirecTV instead).  That partnership had accounted for 17 percent of Dish’s gross new subscribers in fourth quarter 2008.

For the year, Dish’s net income came in at $636 million, about one-third less then the prior year’s $903 million. Revenues remained steady at $11.62 billion.

But while Dish made less money, the company said that it squeezed a bit more money out of customers. On average, customers paid $70.04 a month for service, up from $69.27 in 2008.  That $0.77-a month was a 1.1 percent increase and was attributed to price increases made in February 2009. In return, customers spent less money on premium movie channels and pay-per-view shows then in prior years.

More TV earnings:

Dish’s “Average Revenue Per Subscriber” was one of the lowest in the paid-TV industry. Keep in mind, however, the average price of other TV competitors can include Internet and telephone service. See links to other TV earnings reports on the right.

As with all TV services, a big reason for higher prices was to pay for TV shows owned by networks that are looking to make more money themselves (remember the Fox vs. Time Warner squabble?). Programming fees jumped 6.4 percent from the prior year and cost Dish an extra $382 million. Dish spent $6.4 billion on such expenses last year.

To view Dish’s annual report filed with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, go HERE.

Recent TV news:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • • | 13 Comments »

DirecTV added customers as bills jumped to $92 a month

February 18th, 2010, 12:21 pm by

DirecTV continued to add customers in the fourth quarter last year even as customer monthly bills inched upward.

But the satellite TV provider’s  119,000 net new subscribers in the fourth quarter was nearly one-third less than the 301,000 subscribers it added a year earlier.

The company said that declines in the last quarter of 2009 were due to competition, a weaker economy and more stringent credit and spending policies. In other words, investors should be happy that DirecTV was able to get more money out of existing customers — or $92.36 a month, up $1.90 or 2.1 percent from 2008′s fourth-quarter average monthly revenue of $90.46

What made bills go higher? Price increases, and more customers subscribing to HD channels, DVRs and NFL programming, says the company. That helped offset lower revenues on pay-per-view events and new customer offers.

Overall, DirecTV ended 2009 with 18,560,000 customers, up 5.3 percent from 2008. Its average monthly revenue per subscriber was up about 1.9 percent, or $1.58, to $85.48.

Like every other TV service provider, DirecTV continued to face higher prices from TV channels. Last year, these programming fees  rose $766 million to $9.1 billion. That’s a 9.2 percent increase from the prior year! Programming fees are usually the biggest expense for every TV company. And failed negotiations sometimes lead to public disputes like the New Year’s Eve showdown between Time Warner Cable and  Fox TV.

Regardless, those higher fees often end up raising customer bills. So far this year, DirecTV has announced 5 percent rate hikes for most customers. See earlier story “DirecTV prices going up in 2010 too.”

The financials: DirecTV lost $32 million on revenues of $5.98 billion. The loss was due to its November merger with Liberty Entertainment. Excluding the merger, the company said its net income would have been $454 million, which was up from the year earlier’s net income of $332 million on revenues of $5.31 billion.

Read the company’s earnings report HERE.

More on DirecTV:
Recent TV company earnings:

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 7 Comments »

Even Comcast is losing cable TV customers

February 3rd, 2010, 9:29 am by

ComcastComcast Corp.’s services aren’t available in Orange County but what is happening to the Philadelphia cable TV provider offers insight into where cable TV is going.

Comcast, which released its 2009 financials this morning, remains the nation’s largest cable TV company in the nation with 23.6 million video subscribers.

Like Time Warner Cable, Comcast is losing video customers. The results are in for 2009 and last year, the company lost 623,000 video customers, or about 2.6 percent. Fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, lost 199,000 video customers. See the chart below.

But also like Time Warner, the company gained digital video customers — adding 410,000 during the fourth quarter and 1,411,000 for the year. It also gained high-speed Internet, telephone and bundled customers.

Comcast Corp.       Customers         New (net)        
    Year 2008   Year 2009   Growth     4Q 2009     2009
Video customers   24,182   23,559   (2.6%)     (199)     (623)
High-Speed Internet Customers   14,929   15,930   6.7%     247     1,002  
Voice Customers   6,473   7,622   17.8%     243     1,149  
Combined Video, HSI and Voice Customers   45,584   47,112   3.4%     290     1,528  
Digital Video Customers   17,004   18,415   8.3%     410     1,411  
Total Revenue Generating Units   62,588   65,527   4.7%     701     2,939  

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 1 Comment »

AT&T U-verse TV doubles customers in a year, iPhones continue to rock

January 28th, 2010, 3:51 pm by

AT&T U-verseWhile alternative TV services can’t seem to come to Orange County fast enough for some, at least AT&T’s U-verse TV services is still growing.

Between September to December, the AT&T Internet TV service added 248,000 TV customers bringing its national total to 2.1 million. That’s a steady growth and the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of growth of at least 240,000 net new users.

Comparably, the county’s other Internet-based TV service, Verizon FiOS, saw its quarterly growth shrink (see “48% of people served by Verizon can order FiOS but most don’t“), while Time Warner Cable saw its overall TV subscribers decline (see “How much money did Time Warner make last year? $1.1 billion“).

Even greater news for AT&T: More than three-fourths of its customers buy three or four offered services (TV, Internet, phone and wireless phone). The average customer bill was $65.68 per month, up $2.36 from a year earlier. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 4 Comments »

How much money did Time Warner make last year? $1.1 billion

January 28th, 2010, 1:59 pm by

Time Warner Cable photo, courtesy of AP.$1.1 billion — that’s how much Time Warner Cable (TWC) made in 2009.

That’s net income, not revenues. It compares to 2008′s abysmal loss of $7.3 billion, due to unusual losses like a $14.8 billion non-cash charge it took for the declining value of its cable franchise rights. Revenues for 2009  grew 3.9 percent from 2008 to $17.9 billion, thanks to an increase in DVR service customers, higher video prices and more digital cable subscribers.

Business in 2009 was much better for the cable TV provider. Even though it continued to lose basic cable customers — it lost another 105,000 of them during fourth quarter — Time Warner added more lucrative customers who ordered multiple services such as phone and high-speed Internet. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • | 10 Comments »

48% of people served by Verizon can order FiOS but most don’t

January 26th, 2010, 1:04 pm by

Verizon's FiOS TVThe hottest new TV service to invade North America continued to grow during fourth quarter 2009 but at a much slower rate then ever before. One reason? The price. According to the company earnings report today, the average FiOS TV subscriber pays $140 a month.

By the end of 2009, Verizon said its FiOS service had 3.4 million Internet customers and 2.9 million TV customers.

While still a pidly amount compared to cable TV’s 63 million subscribers, Verizon definitely has made the cable companies cringe. Reports of cable companies suddenly cutting cheaper deals with existing customers aren’t uncommon.

Some of that is bound to be happening here in Orange County, where FiOS has spread ever so slowly in Brea, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Stanton and Westminster. UPDATED, 5:06 p.m.: The company told me today that these are still the only cities in O.C. where FiOS is being offered and, unfortunately, it’s not offered to every resident there. You’ll need to check with Verizon for your home address. The good news for those cities is that Verizon is concentrating on existing neighborhoods where it has already built its fiber-optic service. For the latest, check the Gadgetress FiOS page HERE.

Competition from existing TV services is probably what is causing Verizon FiOS’s growth to peter off. During the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, Verizon added the least number of new subscribers in three years. It added an equal number of Internet and TV customers — 153,000 for each service. See the charts below to compare:
2007 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
New FiOS TV subscribers 141,000 167,000 202,000 226,000
Total FiOS TV subscribers 348,000 515000 717,000 1 million
2008 1Q 2Q 3Q Q4
New FiOS TV subscribers 263,000 176,000 233,000 226,000
Total FiOS TV subscribers 1.2 million 1.4 million 1.6 million 1.9 million
2009 1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q
New FiOS TV subscribers 299,000 300,000 191,000 153,000
Total FiOS TV subscribers 2.2 million 2.5 million 2.7 million 2.9 million

Price is one reason why consumers may balk at Verizon FiOS. While it has more HD channels and faster Internet service then anyone else out there, it costs more. See an earlier story: “Is Time Warner really cheaper than Verizon FiOS?”

Verizon reports that it is making more money each month off each FiOS customer — approximately $140 per user. Overall, this helped boost Verizon’s Internet and video revenues to $1.7 billion during the quarter, up 25.5 percent from the same time last year.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Vizio knocked to second by Samsung for top HDTV sales

November 18th, 2009, 9:04 am by

Vizio Inc., an Irvine HDTV sellerVizio and Samsung continue to compete neck and neck in vying for consumer love when it comes to LCD TVs. This quarter, Samsung sold more TVs in the U.S. than the Irvine HDTV firm.

According to market research firm iSuppli Corp, the battle for first was a close one. Samsung was just 1.1 percent ahead of Vizio based on market share percentage points (added 3:01 p.m.). See the chart below. Samsung had 1.3  million vs. 1.2 million HDTVs sold. Vizio’s second-place finish also meant a drop in market share, the biggest decline of the TV companies in the top 5.

Vizio, otherwise, has been in the lead all year (see earlier report on 2nd quarter and 1st quarter results). Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Video & TV • • • • • • • | 21 Comments »

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