DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) reported U.S. subscriber growth of 60,000 and global customer expansion of 279,000 in the first quarter, driven by its lowest churn rate in six years.
"In the quarter, our focus on high-quality new customers combined with an improving economy to enable our lowest first quarter churn rate in six years," said Mike White, DirecTV chairman and CEO in a statement. "Just as impressive was our highest first quarter ARPU growth in five years, as we continue to generate demand for higher-end services and packages, as well as successfully pass through programming cost increases to our customers."
DirecTV will conduct its quarterly conference call with investors at 2 p.m. EST Tuesday.
The satellite operator's first quarter revenue was up 4 percent to $8.14 billion, but adjusted operating profit declined to $1.39 billion. The company blamed the drop in profits to lower margins at Sky Brasil, which it said experienced customer migration issues, and higher programming and subscriber acquisitions expenses.
The good news was in the U.S., where the 60,000 subscriber additions trumped the 48,000 added in Q1 2014, and revenue rose 6 percent to $6.46 billion. DirecTV attributed the reduced churn not only to better macroeconomic conditions, but also successful winback offers.
Earnings summary: Sizing up pay-TV earnings for the first quarter of 2015
For more:
- read this DirecTV press release
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