LatAm Gains Boost DIRECTV Results

EL SEGUNDO: DIRECTV highlighted the gains in its Latin American business as it released its first-quarter financials this morning, delivering overall revenues of $7.58 billion, an 8-percent gain, with 604,000 subscriber additions in the period.

Much of the company’s customer growth came from Latin America, where 583,000 subscribers were added, bringing the base (including Sky Mexico) to above the 16-million mark. Reported net income at the company dipped from $731 million to $690 million. The quarter included a $166 million pre-tax charge for DIRECTV Latin America associated with its subsidiary in Venezuela.

“Building on the momentum of one of the largest transitional years in our history, DIRECTV delivered another strong quarter of operating and financial results,” said Mike White, the president and CEO of DIRECTV. “Our industry leading revenue growth of 8 percent continues to be driven by the strength of our premier brands and popularity of our differentiated product and service offerings across the Americas, as well as our ability to profitably grow ARPU in a challenging U.S. operating environment."

In the U.S., ARPU was up to $96.05 and churn was relatively flat at 1.45 percent. The platform, where revenues were $5.8 billion in the period, had 20.1 million subscribers at the end of the quarter. Its net subscriber additions plummeted from 81,000 in Q1 2012 to 21,000.

DIRECTV Latin America (encompassing 93 percent of Sky Brasil, 41 percent of Sky Mexico and 100 percent of the pan-regional service) had 16.32 million subs at March 31, 2013. Revenues were up 16 percent to $1.7 billion, but ARPU dropped to $54.23.