Dish Network Lauds New Subscribers; Stock Jumps

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., (TheStreet) -- Dish Network(DISH Quote) announced today that its profit plummeted in the second quarter, even as the satellite television provider added new subscribers.

The company said its earnings dropped 81% to $63.4 million, or 14 cents per share. In the same quarter last year, Dish reported earnings of $335.9 million, or 73 cents per share. A group of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 67 cents per share during the quarter.

Sales came to $2.90 billion, vs. $2.91 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts forecast revenue at $2.91 billion.

Shares in the company were up more than 6%, to $19.60, in Monday morning trading.

In a press release, Dish noted that addition of 26,000 subscribers during the second quarter, marking the company's first quarterly subscriber jump in five quarters. It also brought the company's subscribers to about 13.610 million.

Still, increasing costs also weighed on the Dish's bottom line during the quarter, as total costs and expenses grew to $2.64 billion from $2.29 billion last year. Included in the total was an expense related to patent infringement litigation with Tivo(TIVO Quote) that amounted to $196.4 million.

According to a company filing, one of the big negative drivers was the end of the company's distribution deal with AT&T(T Quote) in January. Untill then, the deal played a major role in bringing in subscribers, ultimately adding 17% of Dish's gross subscriber additions last year.

-- Reported by Sung Moss in New York