DirecTV - A Defining Brand

Directv is maybe the most famous satellite tv trademark. If you live somewhere in the Americas and you hear about DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite), chances are that you associate it with this powerful name.

DirecTV is actually a DBS service. DBS comes from “direct broadcast television”, and it refers to the broadcasting of satellite television for home use.  The only other franchise that mattes in the world of satellite tv is the EchoStar powered Dish Network. But let’s get back to our main subject now.

Back in 1984, Hughes Electronic got the approval to operate a DBS system. However, it wasn’t until the 17th of December 1993 when the Directv-1 satellite was launched, and one year later the DirecTV franchise was born. The average consumer was a little bit amazed to see the size of the dish, which was 18 inch in diameter, much smaller than what was then considered a standard (and bare in mind that this was just over 10 years ago – isn’t technology developing really FAST?)

Anyway, in the month of August 1994 the second satellite was launched, called Directv-2. The company hit the 1 million subscribers threshold by the end of the year. From that moment on, the company’s growth was unstoppable and it continues today.

In all this time, the company bought a few very important other companies and tried to merge with Dish Network. In 1998, it was US Satellite Broadcasting. Then, in 1999, it was Primestar, which bought 2.3 million extra subscribers, two extra satellites and, of course, additional coverage.

However, the most important hit of them all wasn’t possible, and the merger with Dish Network fell victim to US government regulations. However, the issue is still hot, and specialists foresee a merger at one point in time or another. It will be a giant company which will single handedly compete with cable tv. Until then, DirecTV expects four new satellites by the end of 2007, and satellite tv is slowly but surely becoming the future of television.