DIRECTV 2005 Annual Report Download - page 9

DIRECTV has a unique set of strengths
including our brand, national reach, low cost flexible infrastructure, large subscriber base with
a great demographic profile, diverse and unique content, and unparalleled distribution.
DIRECTV mobilized
a special task force
of 600 DIRECTV
service technicians,
who fanned out
across southern
Florida to recon-
nect thousands
of customers who
lost service during
Hurricane Wilma
last fall.
Arguably our most important new initiative is an
upgraded electronic program guide, or EPG. As our
content area expands, the EPG will be an essential,
easy way to locate and access our extensive offerings.
Ease of use is paramount. Hundreds of channels
can appear intimidating to consumers if there is not
a clear, easy-to-use guide for finding what they want
to watch. Our EPG will be that guide. We plan to
add an array of features allowing people to personal-
ize their guides and search for their favorite shows.
Service Excellence
While much of the excitement and press coverage
in our industry revolves around new initiatives in
technology and content, the area that is second to
none in importance is service. When you ask a cus-
tomer what they value most in a TV service, the
answer is invariably reliability, convenience, honesty
and fairness. We need DIRECTV to represent the
gold standard in customer service for television.
While we are the industry leader in service, we
are not where we need to be and this will be an area
of enormous focus in 2006. To improve the quality
and efficiency of our service, we have established
greater control over our service operations. Thus the
majority of our installations are now performed by
a dozen quality home service providers. These HSPs
drive vans with DIRECTV logos, wear DIRECTV
uniforms, and adhere to our strict rules and stan-
dards. Two years ago, less than a quarter of our
installations went through these HSPs; by the end
of 2006, that figure will increase to over two-thirds.
Likewise, we have opened new company-operated
call centers to increase the quality and effectiveness
of customer response.
We have also continued to introduce an array of
new tools to improve service. We overhauled our
web site, making it an increasingly important part
of sales and service. Last year, about one-third of
our customer contacts were handled electronically
or without speaking to a customer service represen-
tative. We also began providing our installers with
handheld devices that improve their execution at
customers’ homes or on the road.
Finally, our customer database has undergone
a complete overhaul, allowing us to use this data
to target the right services and offers to the right
customers. In 2005, we launched a new service for
our one million plus most-valued customers. All of
our customers are now categorized for appropriate
upgrades and services.
DIRECTV Latin America – A Bright Future
We consider our Latin American businesses to have
tremendous potential. With more than 100 million
television households and only about 16 million