Apparently a nearly month-long blackout of Fox Networks sports and entertainment programming didn't have a serious impact on Dish Network's (Nasdaq: DISH) bottom line. The nation's second biggest satellite provider said its third quarter profit more than tripled with income jumping to $245 million from $81 million a year ago on sales of $3.21 billion.
Even so, Dish, which got caught in a nasty retransmission dispute with News Corp. (Nasdaq: NWSA) which in turn shut off 19 sports programming networks and other Fox cable-related programming, lost 29,000 subscribers in the period, reflecting an industry-wide pay TV trend.
DirecTV (Nasdaq: DTV), the nation's biggest satellite provider, also had a good quarter, earning $479 million compared to $366 million a year ago. While a lot of the money came from expanded Latin American operations where operating profits grew 67 percent and subscriber numbers were up 206,000, its U.S. operations weren't slumping either. The satellite provider said it gained 174,000 subscribers in the U.S. as its customer base climbed to 18.9 million.
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DirecTV pulls Comcast-owned channel off its lineup
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