Englewood, Colo. — EchoStar Communications reported it added 340,000 new subscribers during the second quarter giving the service a total of 10.125 million subscribers as of June 30, but its profit fell on rising sales.
The satellite TV provider posted a net profit of $85.3 million on service revenue of $1.6 billion, compared to the $129 million on $1.3 billion in sales in 2003. Total revenue, which includes equipment sales, increased to $1.8 billion, up from $1.4 billion. The company also announced that its board of directors authorized the repurchase of up to an additional $1 billion of EchoStar Class A common stock.
The company signed 10,000 more new subscribers than it originally forecast for the second quarter. EchoStar spent more money attracting new customers in the second quarter: $431 per subscriber in 2004, or $23 more than the prior year. However, its per subscriber revenue rose to $55.69 from $51.69.
