DirecTV and EchoStar face slower growth in 2007
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U.S. satellite TV operators DirecTV Group Inc.  and EchoStar Communications Corp.  are expected to report steady subscriber growth in the fourth quarter, but face a slowdown this year due to increased competition from cable, analysts said.
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Television on the wane? Not  according to a forecast released Wednesday by Nielsen Media  Research, which projects that the nation's TV households will  grow 47% to 163.7 million by 2050.
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U.S. telephone and cable companies saw the growth of high-speed Internet services slow in the second quarter to the lowest rate in a year, an industry research firm said on Tuesday.
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TiVo may have cut its losses this quarter, but the holiday season will put it more in the red. Plus, investors are becoming increasingly worried about growth - TiVo only added 16,000 subscribers this quarter.
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LOS ANGELES  - Three new syndicated   shows got off to slow starts Monday, though two managed to show   increases from the year-ago time period averages.
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BSkyB reports a rise in first quarter profits and sales but there is further evidence that subscriber growth is slowing down.
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By Seth Sutel  How aggressive Big Media will be in 2007 with deals is far from certain.
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EchoStar (DISH:Nasdaq - news - research) posted a third-quarter profit and declared a one-time $1 dividend Tuesday. The direct satellite broadcaster said the dividend would total $455 million and be payable on Dec. 14 to shareholders of record Dec. 8.
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The network equipment maker reported that its quarterly net income grew 7.2 percent amid growing concern that economic weakness could affect technology spending this year.
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A joint venture of rival satellite  television providers DirecTV Group Inc. and EchoStar  Communications Corp. bowed out on Wednesday of a billion-dollar  auction of U.S. licenses for advanced wireless services.
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(InfoWorld) - Vonage Holdings lost less money in the fourth quarter of 2006 than a year earlier, but it didn't attract as many new subscribers to its VOIP (voice over Internet Protocol) service despite heavy marketing. The company, a pioneer in selling phone service that uses packet data networks instead of traditional circuits, now faces competition from cable operators and the established telecommunications carriers. The big players recognize the potential cost benefits of the technology as well as its flexibility, including the ability to give subscribers a browser-based portal for using voice mail and changing service preferences. But those big players are also bundling VOIP with other services, such as broadband Internet access and TV. Vonage ended the fourth quarter with a net gain of 166,267 subscriber lines, bringing its customer base to more than 2.2 million. But that was less than the 204,591 subscribers it gained the previous quarter as well as its gain in the fourth quarter of 2005, when it added 207,252 subscribers. Revenue soared to $181 million, up 91 percent from a year earlier, and the company's net loss narrowed. Vonage lost $65 million, or $0.42 per share, compared with a loss of $72 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. The company's margins also improved, according to a statement Thursday. But Vonage has built its business on being an early mover and drawing a big base of customers that can later drive profits. The company's marketing costs still amounted to 53 percent of revenue in the fourth quarter, although this was down from 71 percent a year earlier. Vonage still expects to reach its goal of making an operating profit, adjusted for certain factors, as early as the first quarter of 2008, the statement said. The company's stock (VG) dropped sharply after its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange last May at $17. Among other things, investors worried about the company's losses and growing competition. On Thursday afternoon local time, the share price was down $0.42 at $5.42. Though the future is cloudy for dedicated VOIP companies, VOIP itself is looming larger in major service providers' plans, according to IDC analyst Will Stofega. For example, mobile operators are looking at VOIP overÂ combined cell and Wi-Fi phonesÂ as a way to improve in-home coverage without the expense of beefing up the cellular network itself. However, it's too soon to count out Vonage. The company has started to focus on small and medium-size businesses, where it faces less competition from cable operators, Stofega said. Consumers may also see providers such as Vonage get into mobility themselves. Vonage could buy minutes from a cellular carrier and offer a service that lets subscribers hop on to Vonage via Wi-Fi at home, Stofega said. It has no traditional cellular minutes business to protect and could move early, jump-starting the trend, he added. The company could also team up with public hotspot providers or a municipal Wi-Fi operator such as EarthLink to provide mobile service over those networks, he added. But both of these are hard ways to make a profit, Stofega said.
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XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc.  and rival Sirius Satellite Radio  on Wednesday posted quarterly subscriber growth that fell short of expectations, and their shares dropped despite reiterating full-year estimates.
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Plus: Write-downs widen DirecTV's loss...Time Warner net income slips...Cell phone unit shores up Verizon.
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United Online Inc. , a low-cost Internet service provider, on Monday reported disappointing growth in quarterly revenue and subscribers, and cut its full-year subscriber target for the second time in three months, sending shares as much as 7 percent lower.
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AOL is still a big moneymaker but its subscription service is declining and no longer seems to fit with Time WarnerÂs plan for more growth.
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The U.S. manufacturing sector will grow at a slower pace over the next two years than it did in 2006, according to a new report, as new clean-air rules for diesel engines, and continued weakness in the housing and auto industries, weigh on key industrial end markets.
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Business & money: Like-for-like sales grow at slowest rate for a year as consumers rein in spending.