DirecTV in the News

DIRECTV Offers Local Channels in Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota and in Minneapolis/St. Paul

EL SEGUNDO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 2000-- DIRECTV Inc., provider of the nation's leading digital television service, today announced the availability of local broadcast network channels via satellite for its DIRECTV® customers in Tampa/ St. Petersburg/Sarasota and in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Beginning Jan. 15, all DIRECTV customers in the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota and the Minneapolis/St. Paul designated market areas (DMA) will receive a free preview of their local broadcast network channel package.

DIRECTV customers in the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota DMAs can subscribe to a local channel package that includes WTS (ABC), WTSP (CBS), WFLA (NBC) and WTVT (Fox). In addition to local broadcast network channels, a national PBS feed is included in each local channel package at no additional charge.

Local Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota channels from DIRECTV will be available for all zip codes in the following counties: Citrus, Manatee, Hardee,Pasco, Hernando, Pinellas, Highlands, Polk, Hillsborough, and Sarasota.

DIRECTV customers in the Minneapolis/St. Paul DMAs can subscribe to a local channel package that includes KARE (ABC), WCCO (CBS), KSTP (NBC) and WFTC (FOX). In addition to local broadcast network channels, a national PBS feed is included in each local channel package at no additional charge.

Local Minneapolis/St. Paul channels from DIRECTV will be available in the following counties.

In Minnesota: Anoka, Jackson, Renville, Beltrami, Kanabec, Rice, Benton, Kandiyohi, Scott, Big Stone, Lac Qui Parle,  Sherburne, Carver, Le Sueur, Sibley, Cass, Lyon, Stearns, Chippewa, McLeod, Steele, Chisago, Meeker, Stevens, Cottonwood, Mille Lacs, Swift, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, Dakota, Nicollet (56021, 56053, 56054, 56074, 56082, zip codes only) Waseca, Grant,  Pine, Washington, Hennepin, Pope, Wright,  Hubbard, Ramsey, Yellow Medicine, Isanti, Redwood, Traverse, Douglas, Wabasha, Faribault, Wadena, and Goodhue.

In Wisconsin: Barron, Pierce, Burnett, Polk, Dunn, Saint Croix, and Pepin.

Local channels are delivered to DIRECTV customers in the Tampa/St. Petersburg/Sarasota and Minneapolis/St. Paul areas from DIRECTV's primary orbital slot at 101 degrees West Longitude. As a result, DIRECTV customers can receive their local channels as well as DIRECTV's current lineup of national digital entertainment and information programming through their existing set-top box and 18-inch antenna.

LodgeNet Signs Programming Service Agreement With DIRECTV

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. and LOS ANGELES, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation today announced it has entered into a multi-year agreement with DIRECTV, Inc., that will bring DIRECTV® programming to the more than 3,700 hotels and 400,000 rooms currently subscribing to LodgeNet cable television service, along with the hundreds of new hotels LodgeNet expects to add over the coming years

``Through this partnership with the nation's largest and best-known provider of digital satellite technology and programming and now with our availability to DIRECTV's high-powered signal, we will be able to continue to deliver our hotel partners the best available 'turn-key' solution for programming content, equipment, technical support and field service and upgrade our PRIMESTAR By DIRECTV customers,'' said Peter F. Klebanoff, Vice President Industry Relations for LodgeNet. ``We are pleased that we are able to continue our tradition of providing cost-effective technology enhancements to our customers throughout the term of our agreements. Additionally, we expect the terms of this transaction to help LodgeNet's subscriber acquisition efforts and the overall profitability of our free-to-guest business.'' LodgeNet has provided cable television service to hotels since 1980 and is one of the lodging industry's first and largest providers of basic and premium cable services.

LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation is a specialized communications company that serves more than 4,900 lodging properties and more than 750,000 rooms in the United States and selected international markets. Through its open architecture, broadband local area network (b-LAN®) technology, LodgeNet delivers on-demand movies, Nintendo® video games, high-speed Internet access and many other interactive applications, as well as digital-quality basic and premium free-to-guest programming. More than 190 million travelers have access to LodgeNet systems on an annual basis. LodgeNet is listed on Nasdaq and trades under the symbol LNET.

DIRECTV Ends Record-Breaking Year With More than 8 Million Customers

Las Vegas, Jan 06, 2000 -- DIRECTV acquired 225,000 net new customers in December 1999. An additional 89,000 customers were transitioned to DIRECTV from medium-power PRIMESTAR By DIRECTV last month.

The strong performance in December caps a record year for DIRECTV in which it acquired more than 1.6 million net new high-power customers, which was 39 percent greater than that achieved in 1998, its previous record year. The 89,000 customers transitioned from PRIMESTAR By DIRECTV to the high-power service in December – which are not included in the 225,000 net new customers acquired by DIRECTV last month – brings the total number of conversions in 1999 to 470,000.

DIRECTV now has more than 8 million customers, including customers subscribing to the medium-power PRIMESTAR By DIRECTV service. At the end of December, PRIMESTAR By DIRECTV had approximately 1.4 million customers subscribing to its medium-power service.

"Our December additions represent a new one-month record and mark the first time a direct broadcast satellite service in the United States acquired more than 200,000 net new customers in one month," said Eddy W. Hartenstein, president of DIRECTV. "And that momentum continues with strong numbers in the first week of January. With our aggressive roll out of local channels in local markets and the forthcoming introduction of new interactive and enhanced TV services, we are poised for continued strong growth in the new year."