Live coverage from DIRECTV press conference

11:03am PST - It's starting, there is a terrible looking video that looks stretched on the projector.

They turn the lights on and John Gieselman Sr VP of Advertisting and Public Relations takes the stage and introduces Chase Carry the President and CEO of DIRECTV.

2006 Highlights reaching 59% of the country with HD locals and 94% of the country with SD locals.
He goes on and on about their accomplishments in 2006.
2006 setup 2007 where HD is the most important. they are launching 2 new Satellites middle of this year, which would enable them to add 150 Nation channels and 1500 Local Channels. Local channels through the US. new exclusive sports programming and On Demand as well as interactivity.

HD will set them apart from the other providers and have agreements in principle with more than 70 national networks, including CNN, USA, Sci Fi, Weather Channel, Food Network, TBS, Cartoon Network, Speed, FX and all Premium Services.

11:14am PST - Steven Roberts VP, GM of DIRECT Games & Strategic Initiatives takes the stage.

They start a video about the Game championship series, the sound is way too loud and very distorted.
The video looks like a reality TV show about pro-gamers and will be in HD in February on DIRECTV.
11:20am PST - This is a new league and will be like other professional sports complete with a draft.


Eric Shanks VP of DIRECTV entertainment takes the stage.
He lets the audience know he is on baby watch and everyone claps.



He talks about how essential the new HR20 is to their strategy, which is a scary thought.
The connectivity of the unit is important for the features that DIRECTV wants to bring to market including DIRECTV On Demand.

They believe current offerings are too complicated with too many menus and they are going to show us the service. On demand channels will be 1000 higher than the current channel.


Interface looks great, but the video is choppy with lots of compression artifacts. The networks design the VOD pages.


Ch 1000 will be the DIRECTV on demand home page with a global search.


When you add a show to the queue it will find the show either on your STB or download via the Sat.


Guide will have "G-messages" or "Guide messages" in the guide, watch out Google!


It will go into beta in March and be available to the public during the middle of the year.

11:28am PST - Start to talk about SAT-GO.
You turn it south and when it starts to beep you have a signal, anywhere you go. If you are inside you can use it as a DIRECT receiver in your house. It also includes a few inputs, including one for an iPod.
A-list customers will get the unit in April, the rest of us will have to wait till later this year.



11:33am PST - NASCAR Hot Pass only on DIRECTV recently launched, they believe this will be comparable to NFL Sunday Ticket. Each week they will produce 5 dedicated driver channels. They show a promo, like the rest they are stretched and over-compressed.


11:40am PST - Q&A
How much more will the programming cost?
The prices will be comparable to current and they will help upgrade people to MPEG4.

The new networks are not official yet, but they are in talks with the networks.
Some will be unconverted most will be original

With all the new Satellites you have launched and the MPEG4 technology why haven't you already started to carry more national HD channels?
The new spaceways we launched were designed to be spot-beamed and are intended for locals. The new satellites will be for national channels. the more important programming is the locals, so we focused on those first.. [Thanks, rizzo]

What is the upgrade path to MPEG4 and how do you compete with cable in regards to ease of swapping it out?
To upgrade from HD to MPEG4 HD there is essentially no charge.

How do you plan to bring user generated content to your customers?
The demand is for HD, but they will be able to bring local content to customer with their new boxes.

Can you clarify the fact that you have networks listed as future HD, but they have yet to announce them in HD.
We have discussed HD carriage with these companies, so you might consider this the announcement.

When do you anticipate shutting off MPEG2?
At this point we are leaving it up to the customers, it won't be this year, but maybe in a couple years. We will see based on the customers pace. The longer they wait the less it will cost DIRECTV.

What are your plans to address your current PQ and your compression and what about distributing films in 1080 24p?
They are committed to quality and want to meet their customers expectations.
They have plans to exceed what a TV can support and believe they are exceeding other providers. They currently have no plans to support 1080 24p. We are going to pursue things that add value for our customers.

Thats it!

[Dobber @ Jan 8th 2007 2:21PM]

Please OH please someone ask them why they continue to offer pseudo-HD instaed of the real deal...

[Newshawk @ Jan 8th 2007 2:37PM]

Please leave the editorial comments to yourself... you didn't do the same for the Echostar news conference!

[Digital Freak @ Jan 8th 2007 2:38PM]

Maybe because the Echostar news conference was better done?

[Aaron @ Jan 8th 2007 3:47PM]

Let me be the first to say DirecTV blows. I have no confidence in their ability to decide what people want. The picture quality on DirecTV is crap. Will HD be better? I doubt it. Higher resolution + same over-compression = even more artifacts. I mean, they don't even care about this in their press conference. Stop using DirecTV if you have the option.

[ben.brase @ Jan 8th 2007 3:57PM]

Newshawk that is funny.

Perhaps the reason he did not have those comments on the echostar side is because it is a far superior product compared to DirecTV. DirecTV is looking to put out the tech that Dishnetwork already has up, they are behind the times. The only thing that DirecTV offers is the NFL package.

[Wally @ Jan 8th 2007 4:24PM]

Wouldn't it be great if ONE of DTV's improvements was their customer service. I didn't see anything here saying anything about their current problems with DVR service nationally voiced loudly at many forums such as http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=4752109#post4752109
...a DTV customer

[Harley3k @ Jan 8th 2007 5:00PM]

You mean they didn't announce new vaporware like the Home Media Server with 6 tuners they announced 2 years ago.

[hliles @ Jan 8th 2007 5:05PM]

Ya, notice the part "The upgrade from HD to MPEG4 HD is essentially free" - wtf is 'essentially free'. I already switched to FIOS, a couple months ago, but I just called them for my boss who has 3 MPEG2 HD-DVRs in his house that he paid about $800 each for and they offered him the new HR20 DVR for $100 off or $199. That isn't free. It's only free if you transfer to retention and threaten to quit. Oh and look at the Echostar CES presentation, they're offering their HD-DVR for free now too. I left D* because I didn't want to pay $199 or $299 each to beta test their new craptastic DVR AND get locked into a 2 year committment again. What exactly are they thinking these days? Their new DVR has fewer features than the old HD-Tivos and they want to upcharge us to get them?!?!

[Bill @ Jan 8th 2007 5:50PM]

Yup. Standard definition PQ is no better than a You-tube video these days. Sci-Fi is a wreck and usually unwatchable. Their HD is a disgrace especially after those ridiculous, blatantly false, Shatner/Simpson ads. The latter of which they're being sued over.

If I don't see a marked improvement in the next year, at which time my current contract is up, I'll be looking elsewhere. This after being a loyal, high paying, customer for over 10 years.

It's pathetic what they've become. The outlook isn't too bright either now that Liberty Media is taking over. One rumor being that they will now be cowtowing to the shareholders by milking the subscribers.

[Cronick @ Jan 8th 2007 9:33PM]

When D*TV no longer works with my dual-tuners D*TiVos, I'm switching to another provider that does.

[Wayne @ Jan 9th 2007 11:29AM]

I've been with them for sometime now also. The HR20 DVR and the plain old HR20 receivers are junk from a hardware perspective. Mine reboot all the time. I don't know if it is software or hardware but either way they shouldn't be selling either model until they can work out the kinks.

They have us beta testing for them. I went with them because of the cost of the new Series 3 Tivo.

I'm second guessing that move. Maybe it is time to check out Dish

wayne

[Jeremy @ Jan 9th 2007 12:56PM]

I hate my cable company (Brighthouse) and am seriously contemplating switching to Dish Network. They already offer 25 HD channels but are they any good? Are they better than DirectTV's apparent abhorrent quality? My cable HD is great quality but I only get like 8-10 channels with 4-5 of those having stupid content.

[Tauron @ Jan 9th 2007 8:59PM]

Jeremy, I've had Directv AND DISH Network. Dishnetwork's HD programming is better than Direct (not just in quantity either). However, If Direct is really serious about 100 HD channels, and includes VOOM (an HD package DISH has)you might be better off waiting to see what pans out with Direct, if HD is your main consideration.

As far as Directv's "abhorrent" quality, I don't see it. My only complaint is Direct's signal loss which sometimes occurs (same with DISH too!) and their download time when it does occur. Direct also costs less, but, now with extra HD channels and locals...well, the price will probably go up too. If Direct does add all these HD channels, I plan on switching back to them. The only reason I now have DISH is because of the HD package even though it costs more.

[Bill Garfield @ Jan 9th 2007 10:04PM]

I too am about fed up with DirecTV. The PQ of their new MPEG-4 locals is a disgrace. If the new HD locals are any indication of what the rest of their new HD tier will look like, I'll be leaving, even if it means breaking my contract. I will not be held hostage for crappy HD. That's not what I bought a new HD set for.

[exchguy @ Jan 10th 2007 12:22AM]

I hope that DTV has something better to announce than the bit about launching their new sats. We've been hearing about how DTV is going to have all of these new HD channels with these new sats for years now. The reality is if you don't launch the new sats until mid 2007, then the earliest you are going to be getting programming on these things is fall at the earliest. That while cable, FIOS, and Dish has already stocked up on plenty of HD..please.

I don't really care about watching professional gamers in HD.

[Larry S Wafford @ Jan 11th 2007 6:44PM]

There is a reason Directv has more subscribers than dish, it because dish is worse than basic cable and I am not alone in that view. I will be surprised if this sees the light of day as your comments are slanted and you only print what you want folks to read.

[h.solo @ Jan 14th 2007 6:48PM]

Nothing like a group of Trolls. I have had Direct and Dish And Cable over the years. Dish was good but for the most part their Customer Service was the same as Direct-decent. As a matter of fact I personally have had really good experiences with Direct, shockingly enough. Maybe because I don't ask the usual CS rep a bunch of tech geek Q's. As for cable I don't care if they have HD everything. In my 6 years with Direct I have had one incident on problems with signal outage, when it was raining about 4 inches in 30 minutes. With cable once a month something would be shutoff, you would call and get a recording saying your zip code is out for the foreseeable future. the only thing I agree with is the HR20 is crap compared to the Tivo HD box. My Tivo is better but is now becoming retarded and is forgetting to record.

[Ozuleta @ Feb 6th 2007 4:21PM]

I will like to know if we are going have any hd spanish chanel (sports)also the new list of hd chanel



Thank you,

OZ