Here is a summary of earnings reports for selected cable and satellite TV companies and what they reveal about the industry's prospects:
Jan. 24: Verizon Communications Inc. says it added 194,000 FiOS TV subscribers to end the year with 4.2 million.
Jan. 26: AT&T Inc. says it added 208,000 TV subscribers to U-Verse. It ended 2011 with 3.8 million video subscribers.
Time Warner Cable Inc. says it lost 129,000 video customers during the quarter to end with 12.1 million. All the losses were in residential services, while the number of business customers was unchanged.
Feb. 15: Comcast Corp. says it lost 17,000 TV customers in the fourth quarter, the smallest number of defections in five years. It compares with a loss of 135,000 subscribers a year earlier. Comcast credits more video programming available on more screens, such as tablet computers and phones, and better customer service. Comcast ended the year with 22.3 million video subscribers to remain the nation's largest provider of pay-TV services.
Feb. 16: DirecTV Inc. says it added 125,000 U.S. subscribers and 590,000 in Latin America, demonstrating a continued ability to draw customers from cable companies. It ended the quarter with 19.9 million subscribers in the U.S. and 7.9 million in Latin America. DirecTV is the second-largest provider of pay-TV signals to U.S. homes, after Comcast.
Coming up:
Thursday: Dish Network Corp.
Feb. 27: Charter Communications Inc.
Feb. 28: Cablevision Systems Corp.
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