Dish Network defied analysts' bleak outlook for the second quarter, during which it lost 10,000 subscribers compared to 135,000 in the same period last year.
Chairman Charlie Ergen said the satellite television titan added 665,000 gross new customers and averaged a monthly churn rate of 1.6 percent, according to a regulatory filing with the FCC.
Marci Ryvicker, an analyst at Wells Fargo & Co., said in the filing that she anticipated 577,000 new subscribers and a net subscriber decline of 119,000, while Douglas Mitchelson, of Deutsche Bank AG, had predicted a loss of 115,000 customers.
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"We feel much better than expected sub numbers should ease investor fears about Dish's core business, which many were nervous about heading into earnings," Ryvicker wrote in the report.
The positive uptick comes at a time that Dish is trying to transform itself into a wireless company as it awaits a green light from the FCC to use its spectrum to transmit mobile video.
The company will report second-quarter earnings next month.