DirecTV
DirecTV is a
direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service based in
El Segundo, California, that transmits digital
satellite television and audio to households in the
United States. DirecTV is owned by
DirecTV Group, which is controlled by
News Corporation's
Fox Entertainment Group.
DirecTV typically uses a fixed 18-inch diameter
dish antenna to receive its signals. Slightly larger, 18×24-inch elliptical antennas (which receive signals from three
geostationary satellite positions simultaneously) are becoming more common as DirecTV (as well as other DBS services) attempt to squeeze more programming onto their growing systems â€" particularly local television network affiliate stations, as well as HDTV programming. DTV is now installing a dish that has five
LNBs (receives signals from five satellites) for
HDTV programming in select markets.
DirecTV offers local channels to more than 94% of the nation's TV households (now including Hawaii & Alaska), with more markets coming soon. Plus, DIRECTV offers locals in HD in select markets.
Local channels are transmitted over
optical fiber networks to the Castle Rock Broadcast Center, in
Castle Rock, Colorado, where they are
uplinked.
As of
November 30,
2005 DirecTV has over 15 million customers in the U.S. and 1.57 million in Latin America. 2005 revenues are $3.15 billion.
The Economist has suggested that News Corporation would eventually like to merge DirecTV with
Sky, its British satellite operation, and possibly its Asian
Star and Australian
Foxtel networks to form a global satellite TV company.
In late July, 2006, DirecTV added several channels to their online guide that are apparently not available to viewers -- these include UK-based
Sky Sports One,
Sky One and
Sky News. The three are channels that are generally available to satellite television viewers in the United Kingdom, though Sky News has been made available in other countries internationally.
*DirecTV was launched in
1994 by
General Motors subsidiary
Hughes Electronics. It was the first high-powered DBS service in the world.
Digital Equipment Corporation provided the customer-care out of their existing technical support center in
Colorado Springs, Colorado.
*In 1998 DirecTV acquired its partner,
USSB for $1.3 billion. In
1999 DirecTV acquired
PrimeStar for $1.83 billion. In
2003, a merger with
EchoStar, owner of
Dish Network, fell through.
*On
December 22,
2003, General Motors sold controlling interest in Hughes Electronics to News Corporation.
*On
November 15,
2005, DirecTV stopped carrying
Music Choice audio-only channels, replacing it with 72 channels of
XM Satellite Radio.
*On
June 28,
2006, DirecTV started offering the United States most expensive program package
DirecTV Titanium, the current yearly price of the package is $7500 USD.
Market adoption
As of June 2006, DirecTV has 15.4 million subscribers,
[5 June 2006 Movie/TV Studio Briefing. IMDb. Retrieved August 7, 2006.] more than any other in the satellite industry, having subscribed their 15 millionth customer in November 2005.
[Company Profile – DirecTV. Retrieved August 7, 2006.] |
Number of DirecTV subscribers by year |
*
Rupert Murdoch, Chairman
*
Chase Carey, President and Chief Executive Officer
*
Bruce B. Churchill, Executive Vice President
*
Larry D. Hunter, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
*
Michael W. Palkovic, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
*
Romulo G. Pontua, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
*
Patrick T. Doyle, Senior Vice President, Treasurer, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer
*
Mark Ryan, Senior director, Marketing
DirecTV transmits programming with
encryption to mitigate
signal piracy. The receiver (also known as an IRD, or "integrated receiver-decoder") utilizes
ISO 7816 smart cards which tell the receiver how to decrypt the programming for viewing. In a continuing effort to combat piracy, an access card generation is created approximately every two years, outdating the old set. DirecTV is now utilizing a fifth generation of access cards.
* P1, also known as F cards, were used until
1997. F cards have a picture of a satellite on the front.
* P2, also known as H cards, were introduced in
1996 to replace F cards. H cards look the same as F cards. H cards were in use until
2002.
* P3, also known as HU cards, were introduced in
1999 and are no longer supported. HU cards have a picture of a football player on the front. HU cards originally shipped with receivers with serial numbers above 0001 700 000. These were removed from circulation due to high piracy plaguing the system.
* P4 cards were introduced in
2002 and are currently still in use. P4 cards are labeled "Access Card: 4."
* D1 cards were introduced in
2004 following compatibility problems with the P4 cards in some receivers. These cards can be identified by the silver edges, and simply bear the word "DirecTV" on the front (no number).
* D2 cards were introduced in
2005. This is the current "standard issue" card. These cards can be identified by a two-toned blue dot pattern resembling the DirecTV logo in addition to the DirecTV logo and the words "DirecTV Access Card". They have no number on the front.
DirecTV has long been a victim of an active signal piracy underground, but has recently begun to crack down on illegal reception of its signals. On its anti-piracy
website, DirecTV claims to have sued over 24,000 end users as of
March 17,
2004, including celebrity
O.J. Simpson. DirecTV bases its suits on purchase records of ISO-7816 Smart Card devices. Although these devices could be used to rewrite DirecTV's access cards, there are countless legitimate uses for them as well. This has caused controversy, since DirecTV is making the assumption that all purchasers of the devices are pirates.
Like its competitors, DirecTV also offers
high-definition television (HDTV) and interactive services. Its self-branded
digital video recorders (DVRs) originally were based upon technology licensed from
TiVo in an agreement that has been largely supplanted by a new partnership with News Corporation-owned
NDS.
To handle the proliferation of bandwidth-intensive HDTV broadcasting, DirecTV is now broadcasting local HD content using the
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec while employing a newer transmission protocol (
DVB-S2) over their new
SPACEWAY-1 satellite and
SPACEWAY-2 satellite. This allows DirecTV to squeeze much more HD programming over its satellite signal than was previously feasible using the older
MPEG-2 compression and
DSS protocol it has been using.
It is speculated (and many say testable) that both DirecTV and their competitor
Dish Network have also reduced the quality of their Standard Definition Broadcasts in order to clear more bandwidth for HDTV on the older MPEG-2 systems due to current capacity constraints. This is not the case with the new MPEG-4 systems.
Subscribers must acquire a new set-top box (the H20 receiver) and a 5-LNB dish (referred to as a "Ka/Ku" dish) in order to receive the new programming encoded with MPEG-4. DirecTV has contracted with Korea's
LG Electronics and France's
Thomson to manufacture these new boxes.
LG Electronics manufactured Directv H20 boxes are Model # H20-600.
Thomson manufactured Directv H20 boxes are Model # H20-100.
DirecTV uses the less advanced H10 receiver only when the customer cannot receive local stations.The HD channels offered by DirecTV are:
*70 -
HBO HD*71 -
Showtime HD*72 -
ESPN2HD*73 -
ESPNHD*74 -
Universal HD*75 -
TNT HD*76 -
Discovery HD Theater*78 -
HDNet Movies*79 -
HDNet*101 -
CD USADirecTV also broadcasts some of the NFL Sunday Ticket in HD for an additional fee. This service is only available to customers that purchase the NFL Sunday Ticket Super Fan for an additional $99.
Local stations (
CBS,
ABC,
NBC, and
FOX) broadcasts transcoded in MPEG-4 are currently being rolled out in major markets. Where not available through satellite, local HD channels can be received over the air using an antenna for free of charge with an over the air HD tuner.
| Satellite | Orbital slot | Launch date | Satellite type |
| DirecTV-1 | 110.0° W | December 17, 1993 | Hughes Electronics HS-601 |
| DirecTV-2 | 100.8° W | August 3, 1994 | Hughes Electronics HS-601 |
| DirecTV-1R | 100.8° W | October 10, 1999 | Hughes Electronics HS-601HP |
| DirecTV-4S | 101.2° W | November 27, 2001 | Hughes Electronics HS-601HP |
| DirecTV-5 | 72.5° W | May 7, 2002 | Space Systems/Loral LS-1300 |
| DirecTV-6 | 109.8° W | March 8, 1997 | Space Systems/Loral LS-1300 |
| DirecTV-7S | 119.0° W | May 4, 2004 | Space Systems/Loral LS-1300 |
| DirecTV-8 | 101.0° W | May 22, 2005 | Space Systems/Loral LS-1300 |
| DirecTV-9S | TBD | (est.) early 2006 | Space Systems/Loral LS-1300 |
| SPACEWAY-1 | 102.8° W | April 26, 2005 | Boeing BSS-702 |
| SPACEWAY-2 | 99.2° W | November 16, 2005 | Boeing BSS-702 |
| DirecTV-10 | TBD | (est.) 2007 | Boeing BSS-702 |
| DirecTV-11 | TBD | (est.) 2007 | Boeing BSS-702 |
| DirecTV-12 | TBD | (est.) 2007 | Boeing BSS-702 |
DirecTV also offers local channels (
CBS,
ABC,
NBC,
Fox,
PBS,
WB,
UPN, and some
independent stations) for many markets. In the largest markets, the locals are carried on the main satellite. In smaller markets, the locals are carried via another satellite where HD and most Spanish language programming is located, requiring a slightly larger oval dish, capable of receiving from both satellites simultaneously. Generally, this dish will include three LNBs so it can see three satellites. In a few smaller markets, local stations are located on yet another satellite (at 72.5°W), requiring a second dish pointed in a different direction. In markets that lack a WB affiliate, DirecTV includes
WBZL from
Miami or
KSWB-TV from
San Diego; both stations will join
The CW in September, 2006. Subscribers located where they cannot easily* * * receive terrestrial television broadcasts can receive feeds from New York and Los Angeles for CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox. A national
PBS channel is also available. In late
2005 DirecTV began the rollout of HD locals in the largest cities, requiring new set-top boxes and an even larger dish capable of seeing five satellites at once (at 99°W, 101°W, 103°W, 110°W and 119°W).
*
"EKB: Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations" by BobaBird,
DBStalk, retrieved
March 7,
2006*
List of DirecTV U.S. channels*
Satellite television*
satellite dish*
List of United States cable and satellite television networks*
Dish Network*
Sky Angel*
DiSEqC*
Commercialization of space*
CD USA*
DirecTV corporate website*
"EKB: Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations" by BobaBird,
DBStalk, retrieved
March 7,
2006
