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26
Direct Broadcast Satellite Television
NEWS CORPORATION ANNUAL REPORT 2004
In December 2003, News
Corporation completed its
acquisition of a 34 percent
stake in Hughes Electronics,
since renamed The DIRECTV
Group.
The acquisition was com-
pleted in December 2003 and
DIRECTV started calendar
2004 with a new management
team and a renewed focus on
rapidly growing subscriber
numbers. By the end of June
2004, DIRECTV had more
than 13 million customers,
making it the largest digital
multi-channel television
service in the U.S.
DIRECTV’s new manage-
ment set a strategy of
concentrating on the satel-
lite television operations,
selling several other assets
including an 80 percent
stake in PanAmSat in a
transaction that will reap
DIRECTV US$2.6 billion net
of taxes, the set-top box
Viewers Tune In To DIRECTV
BSkyB expanded its direct-to-home subscriber base by
7.4 percent to 7.4 million during fiscal 2004 as it continued
to enhance its offerings to meet the strong demand for
pay-TV in the U.K. and Ireland.
By the end of June, the total number of subscribers –
which includes satellite, cable and digital terrestrial
customers – rose by 2.1 million to 14.3 million. Customer
loyalty to Sky was strong, with fewer than 10 percent of
customers not renewing their Sky contracts.
BSkyB, which is 35 percent-owned by News Corporation,
reported further improvement in its financial perform-
ance during the year, delivering strong profit growth at all
levels. BSkyB also resumed paying dividends to its share-
holders after a several-year hiatus during its conversion
from an analog to a digital platform.
Sky high in U.K.
CALL 1-800-DIRECTV OR VISIT DIRECTV.com
Better Customer Service
Ranked #1 in customer satisfaction
3 straight years among cable and
satellite TV subscribers nationwide.*
Better Picture Quality
Every channel on DIRECTV®service comes
to you in 100% digital-quality picture and
sound. Surprisingly, even with Digital Cable,
not every channel is actually digital.
*The American Customer Satisfaction Index, University of Michigan Business School (Q2 2004).
©2004 DIRECTV, Inc. DIRECTV and the Cyclone Design are registered trademarks of DIRECTV, Inc.
manufacturing assets of
Hughes Network Systems for
US$250 million and the com-
pany’s approximately 55-per-
cent stake in Hughes Software
Systems for US$226 million.
The successful launch in
May of the DIRECTV 7S
satellite significantly expand-
ed the platform’s channel
capacity to 1,200 channels.
With the extra channel
capacity, DIRECTV has also
committed to making local
television stations available
to subscribers in a minimum
of 130 local markets – repre-
senting 92 percent of U.S.
television households – by
the end of calendar 2004.
DIRECTV is a leading
provider of advanced services
such as high-definition pro-
gramming and digital video
recorders, both of which are
strong incentives to potential
subscribers and crucial to
keeping existing customers.