Dish Network 3rd-quarter profit slides 54 percent

[November 10, 2008]  ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -- Dish Network says its third-quarter profit dropped 54 percent as the satellite TV operator lost subscribers and recorded impairments to reflect the reduced value of securities it holds.

The Englewood, Colo.-based company said Monday it earned $92 million, or 20 cents per basic share, in the three months ended Sept. 30. That's down from $200 million, or 45 cents per basic share, last year.

It says sales rose 5 percent to $2.94 billion.

Thomson Reuters says analysts expected a profit of 58 cents per share and sales of $2.9 billion. Analysts usually exclude one-time items from their estimates.

Dish says it lost about 10,000 total subscribers in the quarter to end with about 13.78 million subscribers.

[Associated Press]

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