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The financials were strong but DirecTV's Q1 '10 results reflected the continued slowdown in RGU growth.

The company added only 100,000 new subscribers in Q1 10, an appreciable difference from the gain of 460,000 a year ago, a quarter in which DirecTV acknowledged it overshot its subscriber addition target.

The lower net adds were driven by lower gross additions--925,000 versus 1,175,000 from a year ago.

There was a surprising uptick in churn to 1.48% from 1.33%, and SAC rose from $708 to $768.

Still, the financials were very strong as revenue rose 11% to $4.77 billion at DirecTV U.S. ARPU increased 6.4% to $85.47 per month, aided by price increases, higher equipment revenue and an extra week of NFL Sunday Ticket.

Operating profit more than doubled from $397 million to $808 million.

Free cash flow jumped from $500 million  to $967 million.

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