Citing a reduction in churn and strengthening ARPU, The DIRECTV Group reported that first quarter revenues increased 8% to $3.39 billion and operating profit before depreciation and amortization more than tripled to $605 million compared to last year’s first quarter. The DIRECTV Group reported first quarter 2006 operating profit of $392 million and net income of $235 million, or $0.17 per share, compared with an operating loss of $54 million and a net loss of $41 million, or $0.03 loss per share, in the same period last year.
DIRECTV U.S. gross subscriber additions of 919,000 decreased 19% compared to the first quarter of 2005 primarily due to the implementation of revised credit policies and dealer incentives designed to improve the quality of new subscriber additions.
After accounting for average monthly churn of 1.45% in the period, DIRECTV U.S. added 255,000 net subscribers in the quarter. The total number of DIRECTV U.S. subscribers increased 7% to 15.39 million as of March 31, 2006, compared to 14.45 million subscribers as of March 31, 2005.
In the quarter, DIRECTV U.S. revenues increased 14% to $3.19 billion due to the larger subscriber base and higher ARPU. ARPU of $69.75 increased 6.0% compared to last year principally due to programming package price increases as well as higher mirroring, lease, digital video recorder (DVR) and high-definition programming fees. http://www.directv.com
