DirectTV Jumps on 18% Revenue Growth

DirectTV Group reported an increase in revenue as the satellite-TV company was able to attract more new customers with its high-definition and digital recording services. For the quarter, profits decreased to $319 million ($0.27/share) compared to $370 million ($0.30/share) last year. Revenue increased 18% to $4.33 billion. Analysts predicted earnings of $0.29/share on $4.25 billion of revenue. "The headline for the third quarter is that significantly greater sales of high definition [HD] and digital video recorder [DVR] services to higher quality subscribers are having an extremely positive impact on the key operating metrics," said CEO Chase Carey (full earnings call transcript). The company added 240,000 new subscribers, which represented a 45% increase in growth from last year. Of the new customers, 50% signed up for HD-TV or DVR packages. Monthly revenue per subscriber increased 8.3%, while average subscriber acquisition costs increased 10%. Shares of DirectTV traded 2.5% higher to $26.78 Wednesday.

Sources: Press release, Reuters, Wall Street Journal
Commentary: Direct TV: May Be A Buy • DirecTV to Offer Internet Over Electric Power Lines -- WSJ
Stocks to watch: DTV. Competitors: DISH, CMCSA, VSAT. ETFs: PBS, PTE
Earnings call transcript: DIRECTV Q3 2007

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Comments

[danix803:]

To whom it may concern,
DirectTV, it partners, and congress people….
I’ve recorded an absolutely horrendous disservice below.
I’d like to ask how you would feel if you over paid me for a service… once the service was complete or you chose another service, I took two or more months to return the balance of your money to you. Then, how would you feel if you called me 4 times and continued to stall you… I believe that you would sue me.
$332.01 is not much money to you… as I make $24000.00 per year it represents 0.01383375 of my income… with your revenue of $319 million for 2007, that would equate to me holding onto $4,412,966.25 of your money and refusing to give it back… I notice that you had an 18% increase in revenue this year to $4.33 billion dollars… illegally holding onto my money has enabled you to increase your profits… Merry CHRISTmas to you…
(13Nov08) Ended service and requested refund.
(11Dec08) 1st Stall, told to wait 8 – 10 business days.
(22Dec08), 2nd Stall, upgraded to critical, told to wait 8 – 10 business days. I was told that the next time I called it would be upgraded to urgent.
Check on DirectTV $332.01 refund check.
(2Jan08) Called and spoke with Paul. He told me that it would take 6 – 8 wks to process. I told him that I had already been waiting that long. He said there was an escalation, that should take 8-10 business days. He said that a special escalation has already made. I asked him to let me speak to his boss. He said that they were all busy on other calls and not available to speak with me. I told him that I have a blue tooth and would be happy to hold. He said that that may take a very long time. I told him that that was okay, I could hold for a very long time. He told me that it would probably be very, very long. I asked him if he could leave a message for his boss to call me when they get the chance today. He asked me to hold for a moment and told me that he had left a message and one of his bosses would call me back and if they didn’t I could call them back and ask for a boss.
How ‘bout you give me $1,000.00 & my refund for inconveniencing me so much (it took me hours to find all these email addresses)??? That way, when I retell this horrendous story to my family, friends, and millions of online buddies at dozens of tech support websites it will have a great, caring, financially responsible ending… My intent is to be helpful to you and your future customers and partners…

Jan 02 04:17 PM

[Chanee Will...:]

I think it would be great if Direct TV like Cox cable and most other companies would link their receivers up to real pay time! How can you allow people to rent movies and then not pay for them until they cancel their service. What would happen if they never cancelled their service? Your way of billing is awful. I cancelled service to switch to Cox in December, I got a bill from you showing a $0.00 balance in January, you took $25.19 out of my account in February, same month I receive another bill from you for $4.19 and in the same month I receive a bill showing that I owe you nothing? That is what I call unscrupulous!!! Think about me and all of the other people that your company took advantage of when you are looking for jobs!

Feb 11 10:30 AM