Hughes' DirecTV Q2 Sales Up 19%

EL SEGUNDO, CALIF.— Building on a larger subscriber base, the DirecTV business segment of digital TV entertainment provider Hughes Electronics reported a 19 percent increase in revenue for the second quarter, reaching $1.35 billion, compared with $1.13 billion in the same three months last year.

DirecTV added about 745,000 gross subscribers in the second quarter ended June 30. After accounting for churn, net subscriber additions in the three months were 175,000. The company said it had more than 10 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter, a 15 percent jump over the 8.7 million on record following the second quarter of 2000.

DirecTV is lowering estimates for 2001 net subscriber additions in the United States to about 1.1 million, down from revised full-year guidance of 1.3 million, which in June had been cut from a previously expected 1.5 million to 1.7 million range.

DirecTV is part of Hughes Direct-To-Home Broadcast segment, the company's largest, which had second-quarter revenue of $1.53 billion, a 22 percent increase over the $1.25 billion reported in the same three months last year. The segment had negative EBITDA of $1.3 million in the second quarter, compared with negative EBITDA of $14 million in the same quarter last year.

Hughes posted a second-quarter net loss of $156.5 million, compared with a net loss of $69.1 million recorded in the year-ago three months. The decline was due to the reduced EBITDA and increased depreciation and amortization expense in the Direct-To-Home segment.

For the six months, Hughes Direct-To-Home Broadcast segment enjoyed revenue of $3.02 billion, compared with $2.43 billion in the same six months in 2000.