DIRECTV 2004 Annual Report Download - page 6

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Much of this growth was attributable to strengthening our operations.
For example, we more than doubled our local channel markets from
64 to 130 and now offer local channels to 92 percent of U.S. television
households. This increased coverage represents an additional 23 million
homes that can now receive local channels.
We also signifi cantly improved our international programming lineup.
We achieved record customer growth for DIRECTV PARA TODOS®, our
Spanish-language platform, by offering new and exclusive channels as
well as better packaging options. We also launched our WorldDirect™
international channel platform with several programming packages in
fi ve different languages — Hindi, Vietnamese, Chinese, Tamil
and Italian — with plans to add many more.
In addition, we furthered our relationships with regional bell operating
companies, including Verizon and BellSouth. With a bundled service
offering that includes DIRECTV® programming, these telco partners made
meaningful contributions to our subscriber growth in 2004. And along
with the addition of Qwest and Cincinnati Bell this year, we expect to see
even greater contributions in 2005.
While we’re an industry leader in customer service, we still have much
room for improvement. As one way of improving the customer experience,
we opened two new owned and operated customer call centers — one
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and one in Huntsville, Alabama. In addition, we’ve
enhanced the installation process by driving greater use of DIRECTV’s
operated installation network.
Collectively, our 2004 achievements set the stage for long-term success.
That said, we’re still in the very early phases of building this business.
It should come as no surprise that our near-term focus will continue
to be on strengthening our content, technology and service, the key
drivers of the DIRECTV experience.
In terms of content, our initial enhancements were introduced early this
year, when we launched what we call the DIRECTV Mix Channels, which
offer up to six live channels of a single genre on one screen. Currently
we have Mix Channels for sports, news and kids programming.
We also launched DIRECTV Active™, a portal that allows customers
with interactive-enabled receivers to customize their television
experience. Features include daily and extended local weather forecasts,
lottery results, television viewing recommendations and special DIRECTV