DIRECTV Posts Profit Increase

EL SEGUNDO, November 8: The DIRECTV Group’s third quarter
profits more than tripled to $370 million, on revenues of $3.67 billion, a
13-percent increase on the previous year.

At DIRECTV U.S., revenues were up to $3.4 billion, and ARPU
jumped from $68.65 to $72.74. The U.S. satellite platform saw its operating
profit rise from $171 million to $597 million. However, subscriber growth
slowed considerably, with just 165,000 net subscriber additions in the quarter,
versus 263,000 in Q3 2005. The platform ended the period with 15,678,000
subscribers. Monthly churn fell from 1.89 percent to 1.8 percent.

This quarter saw the completion of a series of transactions
with News Corporation, Grupo Televisa, Globo and Liberty Media to combine
DIRECTV Latin America and Sky in the region. The DIRECTV Group paid News Corporation
and Liberty Media approximately $373 million for their equity stakes in Sky
Mexico and received approximately $59 million from Televisa. The DIRECTV Group
also received a net payment of $97 million from News Corporation at the
completion of the Sky Brasil transaction. As a result of these transactions,
The DIRECTV Group has a combined direct and indirect ownership of approximately
74 percent of the merged business in Brazil, 41 percent of Sky Mexico and 100
percent of PanAmericana, which covers most of the remaining countries in the
region.

DIRECTV Latin America’s revenues rose 43 percent to $264
million, and operating profit more than quadrupled to $52 million. The number
of subscribers rose 69 percent to 2,634,000. Subscriber growth did slow,
however, with 33,000 net additions versus last year’s 36,000.