Dish serves up a Q1 surprise

May 13, 2008 Charlie Ergen's Dish Network on Tuesday posted first-quarter financials that bested analyst expectations, but subscriber growth nearly ground to a halt. The satellite TV giant's sluggish 35,000 net subscriber additions in the latest period fell way short of Wall Street's average estimate of about 100,000 as management cited increased competition and weakening demand because of a sluggish U.S. economy. Competitor DirecTV, telecom firms Verizon and AT&T and such cable operators as Time Warner Cable and Cablevision Systems have reported stronger-than-expected user gains this quarter.

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