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2000 Consumer Electronics Show READ ALL ABOUT IT! PAGE 2 DirecTv Leaves Free Programs to EchoStar DirecTv has no intention of following EchoStar Communications lead into giving away reception systems, DirecTv President Eddy Hartenstein said yesterday. “We achieved this phenomenal growth in our high-power service without violating our number one rule in DirecTv and DBS economics: Do not give away free hardware,” he said. “It’s very important to our retail partners that we continue going forward on that.” EchoStar announced yesterday it is giving away reception equipment valued at $199 to some new customers and has offered a series of rebate programs that can make some of its equipment essentially free. Hartenstein used the press conference to point to DirecTv’s success last year, which culminated with the company adding a record 225,000 net new subscribers in December. DirecTv also took in $3.4 billion in revenue in 1999, more than double the $1.6 billion it made in 1998, Hartenstein noted. The results “exceeded even our own expectations,” he said. DirecTv also detailed its plans to step up its efforts to convert the remaining 1.4 million Primestar customers to DirecTv’s high-power service by the end of the year instead of by mid-2001 as the company had first predicted, Hartenstein said. To do that, DirecTv would need to convert more than 100,000 Primestar subscribers each month this year. “We will certainly start doing 100,000 conversions [per month] here in the first quarter, hardware availability permitting,” he said. DirecTv converted 89,000 Primestar customers in December, its highest conversion total so far. DirecTv also plans to step up its efforts to entice existing customers to sign up for local-into-local service in the 17 markets where it is available, Hartenstein said. DirecTv plans to add an additional eight markets in the next month and also intends to start calling existing customers to let them know about the service. DirecTv also plans to more heavily promote the service through advertising, he said. Though it appears to be catching on so far, “The true impact isn’t going to be realized until the first full year” it is available, Hartenstein said TURN THE PAGE OTHER ISSUES: Thursday, Jan. 6, 2000 Saturday, Jan. 8, 2000 Sunday, Jan. 9, 2000   Please direct questions about this site to general.mail@satbiznews.com q 2000 Satellite Business News Inc. All rights reserved.