DirecTV Q4 aftermath: focusing on "middle market," receiving praises from everywhere
by Darren Murph 
posted Feb 11th 2009 at 10:39AM
Make no mistake -- DirecTV had an amazing, if not unbelievable, fourth quarter of 2008. After reporting numbers that blew just about everyone away yesterday, analysts have been quick to pump out laudatory remarks. Sanford Bernstein's Craig Moffett noted that the satcaster "continued to defy gravity," and he suggested that "one could make a case that DirecTV has, at least so far, been as little impacted by the recession as any company in America." As for the company itself, it's looking to target "the middle market" going forward, which is a departure from its usual tactics of aiming straight for the higher-end. The outfit's CEO Chase Carey is anticipating Q1 2009 ARPU (average revenue per user) to grow around 2.5 percent, which makes sense given the upcoming price increases. Needless to say, DirecTV is on track for a very solid '09, and if you're interested in hearing more from both sides, just hop down to the links below.[Thanks, Vanbrothers]
Read - DirecTV CEO
Read - Analyst reactions
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
The Fuzz 53 @ Feb 11th 2009 11:21AM
If they want to attract the middle market, they're going to have to invest more into their installers. I can't tell you how many people I know have canceled their orders once their find out what "Free Professional Installation" is all about.
I hope Chase is reading this. Drilling holes in peoples floors and running wires along door frames is not acceptable. Installation has to include wall jacks and wall fishes.
Fargus @ Feb 11th 2009 12:40PM
Amen to that
B.J. @ Feb 11th 2009 1:29PM
Damn you are so right...And to one up you...Charter charges $50 to drill a hole in my floor and carpet. At least Directv does it for free!
imonit @ Feb 11th 2009 1:30PM
Good point, Fuzz. I actually had to have D* send someone backup to patch up an installer's shoddy work a couple years ago. The problem is, D* contracts out it's installers and try to play the "it's not us, don't blame us" game when you call them up.
@Nonya, even a perfect install will not overcome lack of signal strength. Others in different areas have varying experiences during rain. Mine got significantly worse going from the standard dish to the (much) larger HD dish.
mike @ Feb 11th 2009 12:41PM
If only the picture didn't go away when it was raining.
Nonya @ Feb 11th 2009 1:16PM
It was raining last night and my picture was fine.....
IF its installed correctly the only rain fade you get is during heavy heavy rain.
HotBBQ @ Feb 12th 2009 8:21AM
Unfortunately here in south Florida that happens 2/3 of the year.
Ed @ Feb 11th 2009 1:30PM
The reason is that they lock people in to those damned 2 year contracts without proper notification! And good luck trying to get out of it without paying the penalty. Sheesh. I'm done with satellite companies.
Jason Chapa @ Feb 11th 2009 2:05PM
I switched to Directv from Time Warner 4Q2008. It was the greatest thing I've ever done. I get more than 10 HD channels now. And every channel looks and sounds great, unlike TWC. And the DVR blows away the one from TWC.
chris @ Feb 11th 2009 4:07PM
I've been a D* customer for about 6 years and it's been pretty trouble-free, aside from wind knocking my dish out of alignment a few weeks ago.
However, the price has gone up (slowly) over time and picture quality has continued to go down. Channels/shows labeled as HD are often not (stretched), down-res'd or over compressed. But FIOS is currently being setup in my neighborhood, so I'll soon have options & I think it'll be an easy choice.
Griffon @ Feb 11th 2009 5:22PM
I'm still pissed at them for killing MCE integration if dish can get it up and get MCE support out I will fire Direct in a hot minute. A price increase in this economy is just the icing on the cake to get people to churn.
Vanbrothers @ Feb 11th 2009 10:21PM
I see some interesting comments here. As far as investing more in their installation services are concern, this year they invested millions in buying two of their largest national installers. DirecTV's CEO Chase Carey made a point in their conference call that they need to do a better job in customer service. It's pretty clear that they want to continue to take over more of their customer install operations.
As far as rain is concern, it's really a non-issue here in Virginia Beach. For me to lose my signal only very severe storms affect my viewing and it usually last less than 15 to 20 minutes if that and it's pretty rare.
As far as pricing is concerned every major DirecTV competitor already raised their rates Feb 1 according to major news sources. At least Direct won't be raising their rates until March 4th. LOL
Some of you say that you want to leave DirecTV. Well if you do, you are going to be one of the very, very few as DirecTV's churn rate(customers leaving) was at a 9 year low (1.47) in Q4.
Lkr @ Feb 11th 2009 11:17PM
I would like DirecTV, but I wish I didn't have to pay for 2 HD receivers up front
YouFaceTheTick @ Feb 12th 2009 11:04PM
Two reasons we like DTV:
Sunday Ticket
Program only channels you want to watch (cable does not allow this)
Needless to say, we've suspended our account until September when NFL starts again. Quite honestly, we only watch 25-30 channels (including HBO) and we found it just wasn't worth $85 a month. Now we use our laptops fed into TVs to watch Hulu and the other network online content. We watch so few shows (maybe 2 constantly - 30 Rock, Daily Show) that we don't see the point.