Dish Network's 1Q profit up 65 pct amid slowdown

The Englewood-based company said Monday that its profit rose in the quarter ending March 31 because of higher revenue and a drop in expenses. It blamed the slow economy for an 88 percent drop in net new subscribers.

Net income totaled $259 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with net income of $157 million, or 35 cents a share, in the previous quarter. Revenue totaled $2.84 billion, up 7.6 percent from $2.64 billion a year ago.

The results beat the estimates from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, who had predicted net income of 52 cents a share on revenue of $2.83 billion.

Dish Network was spun off in January from EchoStar Communications which retained equipment operations.