Dish + Bell
The dip was nowhere near as drastic as what SBC reported last week, but the number of DirecTV subs added through a partnership with BellSouth were definitely down in 2Q. The RBOC said it added 80K DBS subs vs 113K in 1Q. Last week, SBC said it added 10K DISH Network subs vs 73K in 1Q due to a shift in marketing strategy (Cfax, 7/22). "While this represents only one part of DTV sub adds, it could indicate, as with SBC/DISH last week, that cable operators may have lost share to satellite at a diminished rate during the 2Q. Additionally, the sequential decline in DTV adds through the BLS distribution channel could be related to seasonality." UBS’ Aryeh Bourkoff said in a note to clients. BellSouth reported 124K net DSL adds for the Q-weaker than expected by some analysts (UBS predicted 170K).