DIRECTV 2012 Annual Report Download - page 17

tons more waste to improve our landfill diversion rate by nearly 10 percent in
a single year through better waste management. We refurbished more
than eight million receivers for reuse and recycled nearly ten million pounds
of electronic waste.
To respond to climate change, we calculated our carbon footprint and then
reported to the Carbon Disclosure Project for the first time, scoring 91 out of
100, which was the highest score by a first-time CDP respondent in 2012.
We are also fully committed to designing our products to be as energy
efficient as possible. In 2012, DIRECTV was recognized as the industry
leader in energy-efficient product design, receiving the prestigious
“Star of Energy Efficiency Award” from the Alliance to Save Energy.
And for the third year running, we were the only pay-TV service to be
recognized with the ENERGY STAR award for “Excellence in Energy-
Efficient Product Design.” As an ENERGY STAR partner, DIRECTV has
delivered more than 40 million ENERGY STAR qualified receivers to
customers’ homes since 2009. In fact, the ENERGY STAR qualified
receivers we deployed in 2012 will combine to save over 900 million
kilowatt-hours of electricity every year.
GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY
The DIRECTV team is proud to be making a difference in the lives of
students across the Americas. The future is only as bright as our
next-generation workforce, so we are focusing our efforts on improving
K-12 education. We’re proud of the “virtual field trip” we sponsored
to the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C.
in the 8,000 U.S. schools receiving our service, and of expanding
Escuela+ into our sixth Latin American country, now surpassing 650
participating schools that use innovative audiovisual resources to
enrich school curriculum.
Within U.S. education, we’ve sharpened our focus on improving STEM
education—initiatives focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Math. This matches DIRECTV’s strengths with our talent needs in the
U.S., as well as for our future workforce. As a start in 2012, our Facebook
fans helped us direct more than $150,000 in funding for classroom
projects via DonorsChoose.org, and much more is planned for 2013.
Our employees devoted more than 25,000 hours of community service
across the Americas in 2012. In keeping with our focus on education,
DIRECTV volunteers built a playground in Atlanta, gave extreme school
makeovers to more than a dozen schools across the U.S., and completed
17 transformative projects in nine countries in Latin America through our
“Piedra Papel Tijera” (Rock Paper Scissors) volunteer program.
CAPITAL ALLOCATION PHILOSOPHY
Content, technology and service are the pillars around which we’ve
built our best-in-class video service that we deliver to our customers;
and increasing the value of DIRECTV is the commitment that we are
making to our shareholders. As you know, we’ve been clear about
our desire to continuously explore opportunities to create more value
by further strengthening our business position in both the U.S. and
Latin America. If opportunities do not arise that meet our rigorous
strategic and financial hurdles, we will continue our capital allocation
strategy with share repurchases—because we believe our stock
remains significantly undervalued—and this strategy, coupled with
our strong balance sheet and operating performance, provides us the
flexibility to be selective and opportunistic in considering strategic
opportunities as they arise.
“...our team consistently
executes with a discipline
and focus that enables us
to take advantage of our
opportunities, manage risks
and achieve targeted results.”
A MESSAGE TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS ANNUAL REPORT 2012