Dish Network posts $11.1M 2nd-qtr loss on hefty charges

NEW YORK — Dish Network posted a loss of $11.1 million during the second quarter as the number of total pay-TV subscribers declined and the company took a charge related to a pair of its satellites.

Dish's loss disclosed Tuesday amounted to 2 cents per share and compared with net income of $225.7 million, or 50 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

The recent quarter's results included $438 million in impairment charges related to two of the three satellites it acquired through its acquisitions of DBSD North America Inc. and TerreStar Networks Inc.

Total pay-TV subscribers declined about 78,000 in the quarter.

Revenue edged up about 1 percent to $3.61 billion from $3.57 billion, while analysts polled by FactSet expected $3.65 billion.

Subscriber revenue increased 5 percent to $3.46 billion.

The company's average revenue per pay TV subscriber increased slightly, but its population of pay TV subscribers remained relatively flat at 14 million.

Citibank analyst Jason Bazinet had expected growth of 675,000 new pay-TV subscribers. And the churn rate, or the rate at which a company loses customers, was 1.67 percent, slightly more than Bazinet's projection of 1.63 percent.

Dish added about 61,000 new broadband subscribers during the recent quarter, up from about 11,000 in the year-ago period and bringing its total broadband subscriber base to about 310,000.