DirecTV gives recession the cold shoulder, sees increased profits in Q3

by Darren Murph, posted Nov 7th 2008 at 3:17PM

While many mega-corps are struggling just to make ends meet, DirecTV is basking in the glow of a rather awesome Q3. The satcaster proudly announced that it saw revenues increase by 15% to $4.98 billion, all while operating profit scooted up 16% to $658 million and net income shot up 14% to $363 million. As has been the trend of late, a fair chunk of its good fortunes came from subscribers opting for "premium" services, which is a fancy way of saying that customers are totally digging HDTV, HD DVRs and video-on-demand. Oh, and now that HD is live in Latin America, we actually wouldn't be surprised to see a fruitful Q4 just a few months from now. Recession? What recession?

[Image courtesy of DayLife]

Filed under: Industry, Satellite

Tags: business, customers, directv, earnings, economy, growth, industry, quarterly earnings, QuarterlyEarnings, report, sales

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Low Ranked

-=- @ Nov 7th 2008 5:29PM

Yes, I'm not surprised about their profit from ripping off people will keep them away from recession. Please if you're thinking of becoming their customer read these problem from others

http://hometheater.about.com/b/2008/02/26/consumer-alert-class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-directv.htm

I know they are one of the most progressive satellite TV providers and you will be treated wonderfully before you sign up with all these promises but once it's too late for you to do anything then they turn on you...

Neutral

Jeremy W @ Nov 7th 2008 6:43PM

Get over yourself. It's not DirecTV's fault if you (and others) are too stupid to research what you're getting.

Neutral

-=- @ Nov 7th 2008 7:13PM

Yeah well... let's not call people names. Let's be civilized. You must work for DirecTV hence you are just another crook (oops that I just called you names?)

Neutral

bricksoz @ Nov 10th 2008 11:33AM

I get so tired of people complaining about DirecTV. Most people just don't take the time to read the fine print when they sign up. If you think you are getting screwed after the fact then it's really your fault, not DirecTV. I find their service to be quite good after switching from cable. Let's not ruin it for potential customers when they read this crap and it scares them away.

Highly Ranked

CJ @ Nov 7th 2008 5:35PM

Don't have lots of money? Stay at home and watch the tube. Might as well put that spiffy HDTV to use and get DirecTV. Makes sense.

Low Ranked

-=- @ Nov 7th 2008 5:40PM

Even if you have money, don't waste it by throwing it at this shady company. I'm glad there's already lawsuit against them. There are plenty of good services out there besides DTV.

Neutral

Galley @ Nov 7th 2008 7:14PM

Satellite TV may be expensive these days, but you can get some serious "ass time" out of it.

Neutral

Valicore @ Nov 7th 2008 9:45PM

This proves it, you can't put a price on escaping from the real world. I gladly pay to not have to think about what I have to do when I get up tomorrow lol.

Neutral

dmk679 @ Nov 8th 2008 6:57AM

I have used DirecTV since 2001 without any issues. One needs to understand that all new receivers are leased and yes their is an early term fee, same as mobile contracts. As usual, americans do not perform their due diligence in educating themselves about a contract and then b&m about it later (=>see mortgage bailout).

Neutral

Mike @ Nov 8th 2008 7:23AM

I had been a DirecTV customer since 1996, until this year. My HD DVR was getting a error message quite frequently (771). I called to have them check it out, after all it was their equipment. They told me it would cost me 79.95 for a technician to come out and check their equipment that I was leasing and paying about $170 per/month total for. This and the fact that I wanted to get a new DVR for a HDTV I recently purchased. They would not provide me an HD DVR without a 2 year locked down contract. I say contract, which really isn't. The only thing you are agreeing to is to pay them what ever they want to charge you for 2 years. Not on a pre-arranged price. Cell phone companies sign you up for 2 year contracts to make sure they cover the price for the equipment you own. Since DTV leases you the equipment, you don't own anything. So by locking you into a 2 year contract just benefits them greatly and provides the consumer with nothing. What if I move in the next 2 years to a place that cannot receive DirecTV because of satellite siting problems? I live in a condo and if I move I will likely move to another one. That is a real issue.

So I left DTV and have cable. I have 3 HD DVRS and about the same number of channels. I am not contractually obligated to anything and the DVR's cost my nothing upfront.

I liked the DirecTV service for years, but I will not be abused and frankly that what DirecTV is doing to it's customers. If they think they can continue this "2 year contract" garbage while not providing anything for the consumer they are going to lose a lot of customers. I am one.

Neutral

clara @ Nov 9th 2008 10:12PM

Completely agree about the sales tactics, but that's largely Best Buy's fault. I got my DVR directly from DirecTv on rebate, and owned it. When I dumped them for not standing behind their product, the unit went fast on craigslist for a decent price.

Which brings my real complaint. DirecTv has hands-down the worst technical support of any company I've dealt with. Every tech support phone call (and they were numerous) made it clear that they had no understanding of the equipment they were supporting, and were completely unprepared to deal with the problems that were occurring in terms of basic knowledge of their staff. On-site service calls left me equally stunned not a single person understood how to troubleshoot, for this particular equipment or otherwise. But, they were all very sure of how much better DirecTv was than the competition, they just couldn't articulate why.

With Dish Network, the level of knowledge of everyone I've spoken to is much higher, and I can always get to someone in under a minute who has the real understanding to answer my questions and resolve my issues. I pretty technical and really challenge tech support, so that's saying something.

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