DirecTV Profits Rise Sharply, Considers Hulu Bid

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DirecTV Group Inc. on Thursday said that its net income in the second quarter rose 29 percent as increasing subscriptions in its younger Latin America market offset slower growth in the United States.

In a conference call with analysts, Chief Executive Mike White also confirmed that the El Segundo satellite TV provider was considering making a bid for online video service Hulu LLC, but had yet to determine whether its business model would be a good fit for the company. Hulu’s owners, which include Walt Disney Co., News Corp. and Comcast Corp., have put the start-up on the market.

DirecTV reported second quarter net income of $701 million (91 cents per share), compared with net income of $543 million (42 cents) in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue rose 13 percent to $6.6 billion. DirecTV added 26,000 users in the U.S. – less than half of what analysts expected. But the company, which operates with partners overseas, gained 472,000 subscribers in Latin America, particularly in Brazil.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected DirecTV to report per-share profit of 84 cents on revenue of $6.54 billion.

White blamed a “challenging economic and competitive landscape” for the slower domestic subscriber growth but still described U.S. revenue growth as “solid.”

Shares closed down $2.84, or 5.7 percent, to $46.63 on the Nasdaq.