El Segundo, Calif. — The DirecTV Group reported higher revenues and income for its second quarter, ended June 30.
In the quarter, revenues increased 16 percent to $4.81 billion compared with the prior year’s second quarter, as operating profit before depreciation and amortization increased 20 percent to $1.36 billion, and operating profit increased 8 percent to $801 million compared with last year’s second quarter. DirecTV reported that second-quarter net income of $455 million increased 2 percent compared with last year.
Chase Carey, president and CEO of The DirecTV Group, said its U.S. revenues “were up 13 percent to $4.2 billion driven by solid subscriber growth — due in large part to the lowest second-quarter monthly churn rate in four years of 1.49 percent.” He added, “Much of our success in adding new subscribers, reducing churn and increasing household revenue can be attributed to the significant increase in subscribers with HD and/or DVR services over the past year.”
Carey added, “As we head into the second half of 2008, we are poised to extend our video leadership position as we significantly expand our industry-leading HD lineup with the launch next week of more than 30 new channels, bringing our total HD offering to 130 channels.” He also sees second-half growth with its DirecTV On Demand and NFL Sunday Ticket packages.
