DIRECTV U.S. up 100,000 subscribers and DTVLA up 221,000 in 1Q10

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — DIRECTV (NASDAQ:DTV) today reported an increase in first quarter 2010 revenues of 14% to $5.61 billion, operating profit before depreciation and amortization (OPBDA) of 44% to $1.58 billion and a more than doubling of operating profit to $956 million compared to last year’s first quarter. DIRECTV reported that first quarter net income more than doubled to $558 million and diluted earnings per share nearly tripled to $0.59 compared with the same period last year.

DIRECTV U.S. Segment

Net additions of 100,000 were lower than a year ago primarily due to last year’s transition of free-to-air broadcasts from analog to digital as well as a tougher competitive environment. DIRECTV U.S. ended the quarter with 18.66 million subscribers, an increase of 3% over the 18.08 million subscribers reported on March 31, 2009.

Subscriber Data (in 000’s except Churn)

                                       Three Months  
                                    Ended March 31,
                                   ----------------
                                      2010     2009
                                   -------  -------
Gross Subscriber Additions             925    1,175
Average Monthly Subscriber Churn     1.48%    1.33%
Net Subscriber Additions               100      460
Cumulative Subscribers              18,660   18,081

DIRECTV Latin America Segment

DIRECTV owns approximately 74% of Sky Brazil, 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 DIRECTV Latin America (DTVLA), had approximately 2.20 million subscribers as of March 31, 2010 bringing the total subscribers in the region to 7.01 million.

DTVLA’s first quarter net additions increased 49% to 221,000 subscribers primarily due to strong growth in Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. Gross additions increased 34% to an all-time record of 493,000 in the quarter largely due to increased demand for DVR, HD and pre-paid services, as well as more targeted customer promotions aimed at the middle-market segment. The increase in churn to 1.93% was mostly due to higher pre-paid churn in Venezuela. The increase in ARPU to $55.24 was mostly due to price increases, higher sales of HD and DVR services and favorable exchange rates in Brazil, partially offset by the devaluation in Venezuela.

Subscriber Data (in 000’s except Churn)

                                       Three Months  
                                    Ended March 31,
                                   ----------------
                                      2010     2009
                                   -------  -------
Gross Subscriber Additions             493      368
Average Monthly Subscriber Churn     1.93%    1.86%
Net Subscriber Additions               221      148
Cumulative Subscribers               4,809    4,028