DIRECTV surpasses 16 million subscriber mark in Latin America

DIRECTV Adds 604,000 Net Subscriber Additions in the First Quarter.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) today announced an increase in first quarter 2013 revenues of 8% to $7.58 billion, adjusted operating profit before depreciation and amortization (OPBDA) of 10% to $2.09 billion, adjusted operating profit of 8% to $1.4 billion, and adjusted earnings per share of 34% to $1.43 compared to last year’s first quarter.

DIRECTV U.S. Segment

In the quarter, DIRECTV U.S. revenues increased 5% to $5.79 billion compared with the first quarter of 2012 primarily due to strong ARPU growth along with a larger subscriber base. DIRECTV U.S. added 21,000 net new subscribers in the quarter, a decrease from the prior year period principally due to lower gross subscriber additions. Gross additions declined mainly due to a greater focus on higher quality subscribers, stricter credit policies and the competitive environment.

The average monthly churn rate in the quarter was relatively unchanged at 1.45%. ARPU increased 4.4% to $96.05 mostly due to higher advanced service fees, price increases on programming packages, and increased movie and event buys, partially offset by the absence of one NFL Sunday Ticket game in the quarter and increased promotional offers to new and existing customers. DIRECTV U.S. ended the quarter with 20.11 million subscribers compared with 19.97 million subscribers reported for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

Subscriber Data (in 000’s except Churn):

                                   Three Months Ended
                                            March 31,
                                   ------------------
                                       2013      2012
                                   --------  --------                    
Gross Subscriber Additions              893       941
Average Monthly Subscriber Churn      1.45%     1.44%
Net Subscriber Additions                 21        81
Cumulative Subscribers               20,105    19,966

DIRECTV Latin America

In the first quarter, DTVLA revenues increased 16% to $1.73 billion compared to the same period last year principally due to strong subscriber growth partially offset by a 10.5% decline in ARPU. Net additions of 583,000 were slightly lower than the year ago period as the increase in gross additions was offset by higher churn. Gross additions increased 14% to a first quarter record of 1.18 million principally due to greater middle market demand across the region, most notably in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia.

Total average monthly churn increased to 1.88% and average monthly post-paid churn increased to 1.74% mainly due to higher churn in Brazil related to middle market subscribers and increased competition. The decline in ARPU to $54.23 was mainly due to the devaluation in Venezuela and unfavorable foreign exchange comparisons in Brazil and Argentina. Excluding the impact of exchange rates, ARPU increased 1.5% in the quarter principally due to price increases and more upgrades including advanced services, partially offset by the higher penetration of lower ARPU middle market subscribers, particularly in Brazil.

Subscriber Data* (in 000’s except Churn):

                                            Three Months Ended
                                                     March 31,
                                            ------------------
                                                2013      2012
                                            --------  --------           
Gross Subscriber Additions                     1,181     1,034
Average Monthly Total Subscriber Churn         1.88%     1.80%
Average Monthly Post-paid Subscriber Churn     1.74%     1.47%
Net Subscriber Additions                         583       593    
Cumulative Subscribers                        10,912     8,464

* DIRECTV Latin America subscriber data exclude subscribers of the Sky Mexico service. In addition, DTVLA gross and net additions exclude 1,000 video subscribers acquired in the first quarter, 2013. DTVLA cumulative subscriber counts include these acquired customers.

DIRECTV Latin America owns approximately 93% of Sky Brasil, 41% of Sky Mexico and 100% of PanAmericana, which covers most of the remaining countries in the region. Sky Mexico, whose results are accounted for as an equity method investment and therefore are not consolidated by DTVLA, had approximately 5.41 million subscribers as of March 31, 2013, bringing the total subscribers in the region to 16.32 million.