Dish gains as it lures customers from competition

Dish Network, the second-largest US satellite-television provider, reported third-quarter profit that exceeded estimates after luring more customers away from cable companies.

Net income was $315 million, or 68 US cents a share, compared with a loss of $158 million, or 35 cents, a year earlier, the company said. Sales rose 2.3 per cent to $3.6 billion, in line with estimates.

Dish added 35,000 pay-TV customers in the quarter, compared with a loss of about 19,000 a year earlier. Dish and its satellite rival DirecTV are benefiting from an influx of TV viewers from cable providers.

DirecTV added 139,000 subscribers in the third quarter, while cable companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems lost a combined 460,000 customers. – (Bloomberg)