Dish Network Corp , the No. 2 U.S. satellite television operator, posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and 9 percent growth in revenue.

However, Dish said it lost about 19,000 net subscribers in the second quarter, ending the period with about 14.3 million subscribers. In the year-ago period it had seen an increase of 26,000 net subscribers.

In its quarterly earnings filing, the company said subscriber growth changed substantially from the prior three quarters due to increased competitive pressures, which hurt gross activations and churn in the second quarter.

For the quarter, net income attributable to common shareholders jumped four fold to $257 million, or 57 cents a share.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 53 cents, excluding items, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Second-quarter revenue was $3.17 billion, against expectations of $3.13 billion.

Shares of the Englewood, Colorado-based company closed at $20.84 Friday on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)