Satellite : Thumbs Up for DTV, CVC

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Reading the recession tea leaves, analyst Tom Eagan of Collins Stewart forecasted relatively smooth sailing for both Cablevision and DIRECTV.

For the cable op, Eagan notes that customers' reliance on both video and broadband services have kept RGUs up and churn down. While Cablevision reported a 19,100 basic sub loss at this week's UBS Media investor conference, the op also went into the black with a profit of 9 cents a share. DIRECTV got a nod based on bullish 4Q estimates. HDTV and DVRs are the alphabet soup keeping the big DBS player relatively healthy.

On the downside, Eagan sees slowing growth at both Comcast and Time Warner.