DirecTV in the News

DirecTV Increases Cost of PPV Movies

NEW YORK July 31, 2000 (Variety) -DirecTV's 8.7 million subscribers will get an unaccustomed jolt on Sept. 1: a 33% price increase on PPV (pay-per-view) movies.

"We're constantly adding more channels of programming, and we're rolling out more interactive services,'' says a spokesman for DirecTV, the largest direct-broadcast-satellite distributor in the U.S., in justifying the price escalation.

The price of a PPV movie will climb from $2.99 to $3.99 on Sept. 1, but the spokesman says it's the first increase in PPV movies since DirecTV opened for business in June 1994. And he adds that the suggested retail price of most cable systems is $3.99 for a PPV movie.

DirecTV's DBS competitor Echostar created two-tier pricing for PPV movies last year, keeping the tab at $2.99 for subscribers who want to watch the movie in one showing, without Dolby digital sound or letterboxing. For $3.99, the Echostar customer gets not only the Dolby enhancement and the letterbox picture but all-day convenience -- they can call the movie up at any time from early morning to late night.

This PPV increase will help to offset programming costs, which DirecTV says have climbed by more than 35% since 1997. Expenditures have also gone up, the company says, for "the addition of a second broadcast center, the launch of a fifth high-power satellite and the opening of six new customer call centers.''