A huge one-time benefit from the recent US tax reforms saw Dish Network Corp’s (NASDAQ:DISH) profits more than treble in the fourth quarter.
Thanks to a US$1.2bn boost from the changes, net income attributable to Dish surged to US$1.39bn, or US$2.64 a share, in the three months ended December 31.
Growing trend of 'cord-cutting'
That compares with net income of just US$355mln, or 73 US cents a share, in the year-ago period.
Revenue fell to US$3.48bn from US$3.75bn as the Colorado-based group battles the growing trend of ‘cord-cutting’ - where consumers move away from traditional satellite TV packages to online streaming services such as Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) and Amazon.com Inc’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Prime service.
Pay-TV subscribers rose by about 39,000 on a net basis, including 75,000 in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
In the prior quarter, Dish wrote off monthly fees from around 145,000 subscribers who had been cut off due to the damage caused to the infrastructure by hurricane Maria.
Shares were down 0.6% to US$44.30 in pre-market trading on Wednesday.