• August 5, 2004

Satellite provider DirecTV Group Inc. Thursday posted a quarterly net loss, but revenue jumped 21 percent on stronger-than-expected subscriber growth. DirecTV posted a second-quarter net loss of $13 million, or 1 cent a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $22 million, or 2 cents a share.

During the second quarter, the company added 455,000 new subscribers and reduced its rate of subscriber defection to 1.4 percent, beating analysts' predictions. Revenue rose to $2.64 billion, compared with $2.19 billion a year earlier and analysts' forecasts of $2.56 billion.

The company said the net loss reflects acquisition costs related to the subscriber growth, higher retention, and upgrade expenses, and $60 million in charges for stock-based compensation, severance, and employee retention.

DirecTV earlier this week said it plans to buy the satellite TV assets of Pegasus Communications Corp. for $938 million, following a long-running squabble between the two companies over the length of Pegasus' resellers contract.

The El Segundo, California, company is controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Ltd.