[Satellite TODAY Insider 11-15-10] For the past year, satellite pay-TV provider DirecTV’s financial growth has defied the logic of the consumer economy and baffled analysts. As its major cable rivals report historic losses attributed to consumers cutting pay-TV from their monthly budgets, DirecTV has generated an impressive $2.78 billion cash on net income of $1.5 billion in the last 12 months. 

In its 2010 third quarter, DirecTV added 174,000 subscribers, joining Verizon Communications and AT&T as the only major TV services to see gains in the United States. While subscriber gains combined with package offerings and high-interest seasonal items such as the NFL’s Sunday Ticket could explain its growth, that income only accounts for less than one third of its operating cash flow.

In the 2010 third quarter, DirecTV reported that 20.8 percent of its operating cash flow coming from taxes payable, tax benefits from stock options and asset sales, with capital expenditures consuming 44.9 percent of cash from operations.

        However, DirecTV’s critics have continued to criticize the company for not offering a broadband package instead of the quality of its operating cash flow. Broadband’s absence from DirecTV’s packaging has done little to slow the operator’s growth since 2007. While its triple play competitors shed customers, DirecTV’s subscribers are up about 21 percent over the last four years, according to data published in an SNL Kagan data report. Its competitor Dish Network also is up 12 percent over the four-year period.

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