DirecTV in the News

Odie Donald, New President of DirecTV in US

(April 25, 2000) - The new head of DirecTV in the United States, Odie Donald,   said there is still a lot of potential to grow the DBS platform.

"It's tremendously bright ahead for us," said Odie Donald, the new president for the 8.3 million-subscriber-strong satellite TV company. Donald, 50, joins DirecTV after a 25-year career with BellSouth and - most recently - CEO of Cable & Wireless for the Caribbean and Atlantic region.

He also is a four-year customer of DirecTV.

In addition to the president role, Donald was named a vice president of Hughes Electronics and added to the company's management committee.

He succeeds - and will report to - Eddy Hartenstein, former president of DirecTV. Earlier this year, Hartenstein was promoted to chairman of DirecTV global and senior executive vice president of Hughes' Electronics Consumer Sector. The job includes global responsibility for DirecTV and the consumer marketing strategies of DirecPC and Spaceway.

"Turning over the reins at this point isn’t easy," Donald said, acknowledging the success Hartenstein achieved at DirecTV. "I imagine it’s something similar to giving up your first-born."

In addition to the hiring of Donald, key promotions were announced by the company.

Larry Chapman, DirecTV executive vice president in charge of new ventures, advanced products and programming, was appointed president of a new Hughes business unit, DirecTV Global Digital Media. In his role, Chapman will be responsible for the development and acquisition of content and television-based interactive services for DirecTV businesses worldwide.

Joining Chapman will be Steve Cox, who was promoted to executive vice president of the new unit, and Brad Beale, named senior vice president.

Bill Casamo, executive vice president in charge of sales and distribution, marketing and customer service, will assume an additional role as president of DirecTV Merchandising. In this capacity, Casamo will oversee marketing and distribution of the DirecPC interactive data service and new generation two-way DirecPC services that will be available to customers by year-end as well as future consumer products and services from Hughes.