First Quarter Revenue and Profit Gains at DIRECTV

EL SEGUNDO, May 7: The DTH
operator The DIRECTV Group has released its Q1 financials, with revenues up 17
percent to $4.6 billion and profits up 10 percent to $371 million.

The company also noted a
17-percent hike in operating profit to $657 million and a 19-percent rise in
earnings per share to $0.32.

“DIRECTV’s first-quarter
results highlight the overall operational and financial strength of our
company,” said the president and CEO, Chase Carey. “Our strategy of offering
the best television experience to higher-quality customers continues to drive
superior financial results.”

He continued: “We are
confident that we will build on this momentum through initiatives such as
further extending our leadership position in content, HD, DVR and interactive
services, launching a video-on-demand service and improving customer service
both in terms of cost but more importantly, quality.”

At the U.S. platform,
revenues were up 14 percent to $4.05 billion, with an improved ARPU of $79.70
(versus $73.40) and a higher operating profit of $593 million. Net subscriber
additions of 275,000 increased 17 percent, and average monthly churn declined
to 1.36 percent. DIRECTV U.S. ended the quarter with 17.04 million subscribers,
an increase of 5 percent over the 16.19 million subscribers reported on March
31, 2007.

In Latin America, The
DIRECTV Group owns approximately 74 percent of Sky Brazil, 41 percent of Sky
Mexico and 100 percent of PanAmericana, which covers most of the remaining
countries in the region. Sky Mexico, whose results are not consolidated by
DIRECTV Latin America, had approximately 1.64 million subscribers as of March
31, 2008, bringing the total subscribers in the region to 5.12 million.

At DIRECTV Latin America,
revenues gained 47 percent to $542 million, with an ARPU of $53.52, reflecting
a 20-percent increase. Operating profit, meanwhile, soared from $16 million to
$78 million. Net subscriber additions were 200,000, versus 88,000 in the
year-ago period, but subscriber churn was also up, from 1.4 percent to 1.57
percent. The total number of DIRECTV subscribers in Latin America as of March
31, 2008, increased 24 percent to 3.48 million.

—By Mansha Daswani