DIRECTV 2008 Annual Report Download - page 21

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THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
•Enhance Sales and Marketing. We expect to continue growing our subscriber base through
marketing programs that capitalize on the strength of our brand and extensive
programming. In addition, we expect that our expanded national and local HD
programming will increase sales from customers purchasing access to this service. We also
intend to continue focusing on local advertising and marketing to ensure that our
competitive strengths are effectively targeted based on competitive factors, demographics
and geography.
•Reduce Churn by Focusing on High Quality Subscribers. We believe that in order to achieve
further reductions in churn, we must continue to improve the overall quality of our
subscriber base by implementing additional credit and identification screening policies. We
review these policies on an ongoing basis to determine whether changes are required to
help ensure that the quality of our subscriber base continues to improve. We have also
implemented an advanced customer fraud detection system to reduce the number of people
attempting to sign up for our service with fraudulent names, social security numbers or
home addresses. We believe another important factor in reducing churn is to continue
increasing the penetration levels of customers purchasing HD and DVR services.
•Improve Customer Service, Distribution and Installation. We strive to attain the gold standard
in customer service throughout a customer’s lifecycle. We expect to improve customer
service, distribution and installation services while also improving operational efficiencies.
For example, in 2008 we entered into several transactions which resulted in a substantial
portion of our previously outsourced service and installation network technicians becoming
DIRECTV U.S. employees. By having these technicians as employees of DIRECTV U.S.,
we hope to reduce turnover and improve the overall customer experience. We have also
improved the quality and usage of our web-based customer service capabilities, improved
the tools that our customer service representatives have at their disposal, and simplified our
customer bills. In addition, we are implementing a new work order management system to
improve the scheduling and tracking of our installation and service calls including the use of
wireless handheld devices so that our install and service technicians can improve the
efficiency of their daily work orders.
•Implement AT&T Distribution Agreement. In 2008, AT&T announced that beginning in
February 2009, they would market a bundle of broadband Internet, telephone services and
DIRECTV video service to new and existing customers. AT&T’s territories include 22 states
and cover approximately 44 million households. We believe that this distribution agreement
has the potential to increase the number of our gross subscriber additions in 2009. With the
AT&T relationship, we now have agreements with the three major telecommunications
companies covering approximately 90 million homes.
Infrastructure
Satellites. We currently have a fleet of eleven geosynchronous satellites, including ten owned
satellites and one leased satellite. We have seven Ku-Band satellites at the following orbital locations:
101⍭ WL (three), 110⍭ WL (one), 119⍭ WL (one), 72.5⍭ WL (one), and 95⍭ WL (one-leased). We also
have four Ka-Band satellites at our 99⍭ WL (two) and 103⍭ WL (two) orbital locations. The 72.5⍭ WL
orbital location is used pursuant to an arrangement with Telesat Canada. As a part of the arrangement
with Telesat, we have transferred three satellites, two of which are no longer used as they were
de-orbited at the end of their service lives and one of which is nearing the end of its useful life, to
orbital locations controlled by Telesat, for use by Telesat for its own services in Canada.
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