DIRECTV 2007 Annual Report Download - page 5

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DIRECTV U.S. – Raising the Bar
Much of the planning and hard work
performed in years past to develop superior
programming and advanced products, as
well as focusing on attaining higher quality
subscribers, is now paying off. DIRECTV
U.S. welcomed a total of 878,000 net new
subscribers, a 7% increase over 2006. We
also made signifi cant progress in reducing
average monthly churn – the percentage
of customers who disconnect their service
each month – to an eight-year low of 1.51%.
Average monthly subscriber revenue, or
ARPU, increased 7.2% to $79.05 and revenues
grew 13% to $15.5 billion.
We fulfi lled a promise made at the begin-
ning of the year to become the clear and
undisputed leader in HD. We’ve spent a great
deal of effort communicating this message
through enhanced marketing and, as a result,
our brand has never been stronger. For
example, in 2007, DIRECTV’s unaided brand
awareness reached an all-time high of 50%
and aided awareness rose to near-universal
levels of 93%.
It’s a message that has clearly resonated
with the pay television market and our
customers. We added a record 2 million HD
and/or DVR customers in 2007, bringing our
A Message
to Shareholders
ANNUAL REPORT 3
total penetration of advanced services to
over 40% of our subscriber base. Importantly,
the pace has been accelerating, as over 50%
of our new subscribers purchased advanced
services in the second half of 2007.
Many of these accomplishments were
attributable to the signifi cant contributions
from our direct sales channel, which gener-
ated well over 40% of our new subscribers in
2007. This is an important sales channel for us
as we continue to target higher quality, loyal
subscribers who typically generate higher
monthly revenues and margin.
We are especially proud of our 2007
results, considering that our major competi-
tors pointed to the weaker economy as an
explanation for their signifi cantly slower
growth – or, in the case of cable, to the loss
of hundreds of thousands of TV subscribers.
For some time now, the core of our
strategy to provide the best television expe-
rience was defi ned by delivering superior
service, content and technology. That was
the case in 2007 and will continue to be the
focus in 2008.
On the customer service side, for the
seventh consecutive year we attained
a higher score for customer satisfaction
than cable companies from the American
2007was a year in which DIRECTV’s strategy to deliver the best television experience
in the United States to higher quality subscribers drove superior fi nancial and operating
results. We took major strides to strengthen our leadership in content, technology and service.
And in the fi rst full year of performance since the completion of the DIRECTV and SKY
merger, DIRECTV Latin America also reported outstanding results. As a result, our businesses
in the U.S. and Latin America have never been stronger and we are well positioned for
years of profi table growth.
A
M
essage
w
as a
y
ear in which DIRECTV’s strate
gy
to deliver the best television ex
p
erience