• by Wayne Friedman , March 1, 2010

Dish Network made some financial and subscriber gains in its fourth-quarter reporting period -- but earnings fell.

Dish Network added a net 249,000 subscribers, giving the company 14.1 million subscribers at year's end. For 2009, Dish grew 422,000 or about 3% for 2009. Total revenue climbed slightly 1.4% to $2.96 billion from $2.92 billion.

But net income fell 18% to $179 million down from $217 million in the fourth quarter of 2008. For the year, Dish's net income fell 30% to $636 million, compared with $903 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008.

In midday trading, Dish's stock was up 5% to over $21 a share.

Separately, Dish has been in a legal snafu with satellite programming competitor DirecTV over Dish's "Why Pay More" advertising campaign, which has been running for some time.

DirecTV has sued Dish, accusing the company of false advertising that claims customers can get a channel lineup from Dish for only $39.99 per month, comparable to one from DirecTV for $63.99 per month.

Dish refutes DirecTV's claims saying the advertising compares "apples and oranges." At issue is the two satellite TV programming providers programming packages -- which may not be similar. Dish compares its America's Top 120 package to an entry-level DirecTV programming package.