Revenues Up at DIRECTV Group

EL SEGUNDO, February 13:
Fourth quarter revenues at The DIRECTV Group rose 17-percent on the year-ago
period to reach $4.88 billion, but net income for the period dropped 2 percent
to $348 million.

Operating profit before
depreciation and amortization, meanwhile, increased 21 percent to $1.1 billion,
and operating profit increased 4 percent to $617 million.

“DIRECTV’s content and
service leadership continue to drive superior results in a tougher marketplace
that reflects increasing competition and a slowing economy,” said Chase Carey,
the president and CEO of The DIRECTV Group.

Carey noted that advanced
services, including HD content, helped drive subscriptions at the U.S.
platform, with net additions of 275,000 and its lowest monthly churn rate, 1.42
percent, in eight years. ARPU, meanwhile, was up 8.3 percent to $87.40. As at
the end of the year, the platform had 16.83 million subscribers, a 6-percent
gain from the end of 2006. Total revenues from the U.S. platform were up 14
percent to $4.4 billion, with an operating profit of $576 million, down from
the year-ago period’s $614 million.

At DIRECTV Latin America,
revenues were up 41 percent to $499 million, and ARPU rose from $44.21 to
$52.22. The segment emerged from last year’s $3 million loss to post a profit
of $56 million. The platform experienced net subscriber growth of 199,000, led
by gains in Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina. The total number of DIRECTV
subscribers in Latin America as of December 31, 2007, increased 21 percent to
3.28 million.

“We exit 2007 with
tremendous operating and financial momentum,” Carey continued. “We believe we
are delivering on our goal to provide the best television experience, including
the most extensive HD programming in America. With the launch of our next
satellite in a couple of months, we will extend DIRECTV’s leadership by
introducing even more local and national HD channels. With full awareness of an
industry that will be characterized by increasing competition and a slowing
economy, we’re continuing to target extremely strong results in 2008
highlighted by a material increase in free cash flow driven by DIRECTV’s brand
and content leadership, along with improved operating scale and efficiencies.”

—By Mansha Daswani