DIRECTV 2004 Annual Report Download - page 10

THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT FOR PURPOSE OF THE “SAFE HARBOR” PROVISIONS
OF THE PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995
This Annual Report on Form 10-K may contain certain statements that we believe are, or may be considered to be, “forward-
looking statements” within the meaning of various provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and of the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by use of statements that include phrases such as we
“believe,” “expect,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “foresee,” “project” or other similar words or phrases. Similarly,
statements that describe our objectives, plans or goals also are forward-looking statements. All of these forward-looking
statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical results
or from those expressed or implied by the relevant forward-looking statement. Risk factors which could cause actual
performance and future actions to differ materially from forward-looking statements made herein include, among others, the
following:
•
we may not achieve or sustain profitability;
•
our principal stockholder has significant influence over our management and actions requiring stockholder approval
and its interests may differ from ours;
•
potential indemnification liabilities to General Motors Corporation, or GM, could materially
adversely affect us;
•
our subsidiaries compete with other multi-channel video programming distributors some of whom have greater
resources than us and increasing levels of competition could materially adversely affect our ability to grow and
increase earnings;
•
DIRECTV U.S. depends on the Communications Act for access to cable-affiliated programming and changes
impacting that access could materially adversely affect us;
•
regulatory carriage requirements may negatively affect DIRECTV U.S.’ ability to deliver local broadcast stations, as
well as other aspects of its business;
•
loss of Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, licenses and other regulatory approvals critical to our business
could materially adversely affect us;
•
our subsidiaries depend on others to produce programming and if the costs of such programming increase more than
anticipated, it could materially adversely affect our financial performance;
•
higher than anticipated subscriber acquisition costs could materially adversely affect our financial
performance;
•
higher than anticipated subscriber churn or subscriber upgrade or retention costs could materially adversely affect our
financial performance;
•
satellite programming signals have been stolen and may be stolen in the future, which could result in lost revenues and
would cause us to incur incremental operating costs;
•
construction or launch delays on satellites could materially adversely affect our revenues and
earnings;
•
our satellites are subject to significant launch and operational risks which could materially adversely impact our ability
to provide our service;
•
if the cost of commercial insurance coverage on our satellites is too high, we may forego insurance coverage and the
loss of a satellite that is not insured could materially adversely affect our earnings;
•
to remain competitive, we must keep pace with technological developments and our ability to do so is
uncertain;
•
failure to protect necessary intellectual property we own, dependence on third party intellectual property or inadvertent
infringement of patents and proprietary rights of others could materially adversely affect our ability to provide service
or result in significant liability;