DIRECTV U.S. at 18 million subscribers; DTVLA at 4 million

Thursday, May 7th, 2009
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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:DTV) today reported that first quarter 2009 revenues increased 7% to $4.90 billion, operating profit before depreciation and amortization1 (OPBDA) declined 8% to $1.09 billion and operating profit decreased 35% to $424 million compared to last year’s first quarter. The DIRECTV Group reported that first quarter net income attributable to The DIRECTV Group declined 46% to $201 million and earnings per share fell 38% to $0.20 compared with the same period last year.

DIRECTV U.S. Segment – First Quarter Review

Net subscriber additions of 460,000 increased 67% from last year’s first quarter due to a 22% increase in gross subscriber additions to 1,175,000 and a decline in average monthly churn to 1.33%. The increase in gross additions was mainly due to growth in the direct sales, telco and retail distribution channels due in large part to more competitive customer promotions and higher demand for HD and DVR services.The reduction in churn was principally due to a continued focus on attaining higher quality subscribers and an increase in the number of subscribers with advanced services. DIRECTV U.S. ended the quarter with 18.08 million subscribers, an increase of 6% over the 17.04 million subscribers reported on March 31, 2008.

DIRECTV U.S. Subscriber Data (in 000’s except Churn):

                                       Three Months
                                    Ended March 31,
                                    ---------------
                                       2009    2008
                                    ------- -------
Gross Subscriber Additions            1,175     964
Average Monthly Subscriber Churn      1.33%   1.36%
Net Subscriber Additions                460     275
Cumulative Subscribers               18,081  17,035

DIRECTV Latin America Segment – First Quarter Review

The DIRECTV Group owns approximately 74% of Sky Brazil, 41% of Sky Mexico and 100% of PanAmericana, which covers most of the remaining countries in the region. Sky Mexico, whose results are accounted for as an equity method investment and therefore are not consolidated by DIRECTV Latin America (DTVLA), had approximately 1.78 million subscribers as of March 31, 2009 bringing the total subscribers in the region to 5.81 million.

In the first quarter of 2009, DTVLA’s net subscriber additions were 148,000 compared to 200,000 last year as gross additions were 3% higher at 368,000 and churn increased to 1.86% primarily due to the growth in DTVLA’s pre-paid business, increased competition and a more challenging economic environment. The total number of DIRECTV subscribers in Latin America as of March 31, 2009 increased 16% to 4.03 million compared to 3.48 million as of March 31, 2008.

DIRECTV Latin America Subscriber Data (in 000’s except Churn):

                                       Three Months
                                    Ended March 31,
                                    ---------------
                                       2009    2008
                                    ------- -------
Gross Subscriber Additions              368     359
Average Monthly Subscriber Churn      1.86%   1.57%
Net Subscriber Additions                148     200
Cumulative Subscribers                4,028   3,475

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