DIRECTV's Expectations

In addition to announcing their 24 new DIRECTV local HD markets (bringing their total to 36 local HD markets) that I mentioned yesterday, DIRECTV also announced that they are expecting to have about 18 million DIRECTV subscribers by the end of 2008. They believe the lure of HDTV will bring people to the company at about 1 million new customers per year said DIRECTV's CEO Chase Carey at an investor conference in New York City. According to SkyReport.com, DIRECTV also announced that it will "deliver on-demand content to DVR set-top boxes via satellite and through a broadband connection. Hundreds of hours of popular content will be sent via satellite while niche offerings would be delivered by broadband."