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DTV > SEC Filings for DTV > Form 10-Q on 7-Aug-2008All Recent SEC Filings

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Form 10-Q for DIRECTV GROUP INC


7-Aug-2008

Quarterly Report


ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

The following management's discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 filed with the SEC on February 25, 2008, our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 filed with the SEC on May 7, 2008 and all of our other filings, including Current Reports on Form 8-K, filed with the SEC after such date and through the date of this report.

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q may contain certain statements that we believe are, or may be considered to be, "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of various provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by use of statements that include phrases such as we "believe," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "foresee," "project" or other similar words or phrases. Similarly, statements that describe our objectives, plans or goals also are forward-looking statements. All of these forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from historical results or from those expressed or implied by the relevant forward-looking statement. We discuss these risks and uncertainties in detail in Part I, Item 1A of our 2007 Form 10-K.


                            THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
                                  SUMMARY DATA
                                  (Unaudited)

                                                   Three Months           Six Months
                                                      Ended                  Ended
                                                     June 30,              June 30,
                                                2008         2007       2008      2007
                                                   (Dollars in Millions, Except Per
                                                            Share Amounts)
    Consolidated Statements of Operations
    Data:
    Revenues                                   $  4,807     $  4,135   $ 9,398   $ 8,043
    Total operating costs and expenses            4,006        3,395     7,940     6,740

    Operating profit                                801          740     1,458     1,303
    Other expenses                                  (46 )        (16 )     (90 )     (27 )

    Income from continuing operations
    before income taxes and minority
    interests                                       755          724     1,368     1,276
    Income tax expense                             (287 )       (287 )    (517 )    (503 )
    Minority interests in net earnings of
    subsidiaries                                    (13 )         (6 )     (25 )      (6 )

    Income from continuing operations               455          431       826       767
    Income from discontinued operations,
    net of taxes                                      -           17         -        17

    Net income                                 $    455     $    448   $   826   $   784

    Basic and diluted earnings per common
    share:
    Income from continuing operations          $   0.40     $   0.36   $  0.72   $  0.63
    Income from discontinued operations,
    net of taxes                                      -         0.01         -      0.01

    Basic and diluted earnings per common
    share                                      $   0.40     $   0.37   $  0.72   $  0.64

    Weighted average number of common
    shares outstanding (in millions)
       Basic                                      1,140        1,217     1,144     1,222
       Diluted                                    1,146        1,224     1,149     1,230




                                               June 30,     December 31,
                                                 2008           2007
                                                 (Dollars in Millions)
            Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
            Cash and cash equivalents           $  3,837    $       1,083
            Total current assets                   5,706            3,146
            Total assets                          17,834           15,063
            Total current liabilities              3,256            3,434
            Long-term debt                         5,784            3,347
            Minority interest                         36               11
            Total stockholders' equity             6,578            6,302


Reference should be made to the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.


                            THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
                            SUMMARY DATA-(continued)
                                  (Unaudited)

                                                Three Months           Six Months
                                               Ended June 30,        Ended June 30,
                                               2008       2007       2008       2007
                                                 (Dollars in Millions, Except Per
                                                          Share Amounts)
     Other Data:
     Operating profit before depreciation
     and amortization(1)
     Operating profit                         $    801   $   740   $  1,458   $  1,303
     Add: Depreciation and amortization            557       393      1,081        760
     expense

     Operating profit before depreciation     $  1,358   $ 1,133   $  2,539   $  2,063
     and amortization

     Operating profit before depreciation         28.3 %    27.4 %     27.0 %     25.6 %
     and amortization margin(1)
     Cash flow information
     Net cash provided by operating           $    843   $   857   $  1,953   $  1,856
     activities
     Net cash used in investing                   (539 )    (567 )   (1,104 )   (1,522 )
     activities
     Net cash provided by (used in)              1,907      (612 )    1,905       (895 )
     financing activities
     Free cash flow(2)
     Net cash provided by operating           $    843   $   857   $  1,953   $  1,856
     activities
     Less: Cash paid for property and             (439 )    (598 )     (959 )   (1,234 )
     equipment
     Less: Cash paid for satellites                (31 )     (58 )      (77 )     (112 )

     Free cash flow                           $    373   $   201   $    917   $    510


º (1)
º Operating profit before depreciation and amortization, which is a financial measure that is not determined in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, can be calculated by adding amounts under the caption "Depreciation and amortization expense" to "Operating profit." This measure should be used in conjunction with GAAP financial measures and is not presented as an alternative measure of operating results, as determined in accordance with GAAP. Our management and our Board of Directors use operating profit before depreciation and amortization to evaluate the operating performance of our company and our business segments and to allocate resources and capital to business segments. This metric is also used as a measure of performance for incentive compensation purposes and to measure income generated from operations that could be used to fund capital expenditures, service debt or pay taxes. Depreciation and amortization expense primarily represents an allocation to current expense of the cost of historical capital expenditures and for acquired intangible assets resulting from prior business acquisitions. To compensate for the exclusion of depreciation and amortization expense from operating profit, our management and Board of Directors separately measure and budget for capital expenditures and business acquisitions.

We believe this measure is useful to investors, along with GAAP measures (such as revenues, operating profit and net income), to compare our operating performance to other communications, entertainment and media service providers. We believe that investors use current and projected operating profit before depreciation and amortization and similar measures to estimate our current or prospective enterprise value and make investment decisions. This metric provides investors with a means to compare operating results exclusive of depreciation and amortization expense. Our management believes this is useful given the significant variation in depreciation and amortization expense that can result from the timing of capital expenditures, the capitalization of intangible


THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
SUMMARY DATA-(continued)
(Unaudited)

assets, potential variations in expected useful lives when compared to other companies and periodic changes to estimated useful lives.

Operating profit before depreciation and amortization margin is calculated by dividing operating profit before depreciation and amortization by revenues.

º (2)
º Free cash flow, which is a financial measure that is not determined in accordance with GAAP, can be calculated by deducting amounts under the captions "Cash paid for property and equipment" and "Cash paid for satellites" from "Net cash provided by operating activities" from the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows. This financial measure should be used in conjunction with other GAAP financial measures and is not presented as an alternative measure of cash flows from operating activities, as determined in accordance with GAAP. Our management and our Board of Directors use free cash flow to evaluate the cash generated by our current subscriber base, net of capital expenditures, for the purpose of allocating resources to activities such as adding new subscribers, retaining and upgrading existing subscribers, for additional capital expenditures and other capital investments or transactions and as a measure of performance for incentive compensation purposes. We believe this measure is useful to investors, along with other GAAP measures (such as cash flows from operating and investing activities), to compare our operating performance to other communications, entertainment and media companies. We believe that investors also use current and projected free cash flow to determine the ability of revenues from our current and projected subscriber base to fund required and discretionary spending and to help determine our financial value.


                            THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
                            SUMMARY DATA-(continued)
                                  (Unaudited)


                             Selected Segment Data

                                                                    Corporate
                                      DIRECTV        DIRECTV           and
                                        U.S.      Latin America       Other       Total
                                                    (Dollars in Millions)
   Three Months Ended:
   June 30, 2008
   Revenues                            $ 4,196     $         611     $       -   $ 4,807
   % of total revenue                     87.3 %            12.7 %           -     100.0 %
   Operating profit (loss)             $   717     $         102     $     (18 ) $   801
   Add: Depreciation and
   amortization expense                    501                59            (3 )     557

   Operating profit (loss) before
   depreciation and amortization       $ 1,218     $         161     $     (21 ) $ 1,358

   Operating profit before
   depreciation and amortization
   margin                                 29.0 %            26.4 %         N/A      28.3 %
   Capital expenditures(1)             $   360     $         115     $       3   $   478
   June 30, 2007
   Revenues                            $ 3,726     $         409     $       -   $ 4,135
   % of total revenue                     90.1 %             9.9 %           -     100.0 %
   Operating profit (loss)             $   722     $          41     $     (23 ) $   740
   Add: Depreciation and
   amortization expense                    340                54            (1 )     393

   Operating profit (loss) before
   depreciation and amortization       $ 1,062     $          95     $     (24 ) $ 1,133

   Operating profit before
   depreciation and amortization
   margin                                 28.5 %            23.2 %         N/A      27.4 %
   Capital expenditures(1)             $   546     $          82     $      28   $   656


                            THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.
                            SUMMARY DATA-(concluded)
                                  (Unaudited)

                                                                    Corporate
                                      DIRECTV        DIRECTV           and
                                        U.S.      Latin America       Other       Total
                                                    (Dollars in Millions)
   Six Months Ended:
   June 30, 2008
   Revenues                            $ 8,245     $       1,153     $       -   $ 9,398
   % of total revenue                     87.7 %            12.3 %           -     100.0 %
   Operating profit (loss)             $ 1,310     $         180     $     (32 ) $ 1,458
   Add: Depreciation and
   amortization expense                    965               119            (3 )   1,081

   Operating profit (loss) before
   depreciation and amortization       $ 2,275     $         299     $     (35 ) $ 2,539

   Operating profit before
   depreciation and amortization
   margin                                 27.6 %            25.9 %         N/A      27.0 %
   Capital expenditures(1)             $   842     $         212     $       3   $ 1,057
   June 30, 2007
   Revenues                            $ 7,265     $         778     $       -   $ 8,043
   % of total revenue                     90.3 %             9.7 %           -     100.0 %
   Operating profit (loss)             $ 1,288     $          57     $     (42 ) $ 1,303
   Add: Depreciation and
   amortization expense                    643               118            (1 )     760

   Operating profit (loss) before
   depreciation and amortization       $ 1,931     $         175     $     (43 ) $ 2,063

   Operating profit before
   depreciation and amortization
   margin                                 26.6 %            22.5 %         N/A      25.6 %
   Capital expenditures(1)             $ 1,164     $         141     $      29   $ 1,334


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   º (1)


º Capital expenditures include cash paid and amounts accrued during the period for property, equipment and satellites.


THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

The DIRECTV Group, Inc. is a leading provider of digital television entertainment in the United States and Latin America. Our two business segments, DIRECTV U.S. and DIRECTV Latin America, which are differentiated by their geographic location, acquire, promote, sell and distribute digital entertainment programming via satellite to residential and commercial subscribers.

DIRECTV U.S. DIRECTV Holdings LLC and its subsidiaries, or DIRECTV U.S., is the largest provider of direct-to-home digital television services and the second largest provider in the multi-channel video programming distribution industry in the United States. As of June 30, 2008, DIRECTV U.S. had approximately 17.2 million subscribers.

DIRECTV U.S. currently broadcasts from a fleet of eleven geosynchronous satellites, including ten owned satellites and one leased satellite. In July 2008, after completing in-orbit testing, DIRECTV 11 went into service and provides us with increased capability for local and national high definition, or HD, programming as well as capacity for new interactive and enhanced services. DIRECTV 12 is under construction and will be ready for launch in the second half of 2009.

DIRECTV Latin America. DIRECTV Latin America is a leading provider of DTH digital television services throughout Latin America. DTVLA is comprised of PanAmericana, which provides services in Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Puerto Rico and certain other countries in the region through our wholly-owned subsidiary, DIRECTV Latin America, LLC, or DLA LLC, our 74% owned subsidiary Sky Brasil Servicos Ltda., which we refer to as Sky Brazil, and our 41% equity method investment in Innova, S. de R.L. de C.V., or Sky Mexico. As of June 30, 2008, PanAmericana had approximately 2.1 million subscribers, Sky Brazil had approximately 1.6 million subscribers and Sky Mexico had approximately 1.7 million subscribers.

SIGNIFICANT TRANSACTIONS

Financing Transactions

In May 2008, DIRECTV U.S. issued $1.5 billion in senior notes and amended its senior secured credit facility to include a new $1.0 billion Term Loan C. The senior notes bear interest at 7.625% and the principal balance is due in May 2016. The Term Loan C currently bears interest at a rate of 5.25% and was issued at a 1% discount. Principal on the Term Loan C is payable in installments beginning September 30, 2008 with the final installment due in April 2013.

Acquisitions

Investments

During the six months ended June 30, 2008, we paid $97 million in cash to acquire equity method investments and $7 million in cash for other investments.

On January 30, 2007, we acquired Darlene's 14% equity interest in DLA LLC for $325 million in cash and resolved all outstanding disputes with Darlene. We accounted for this acquisition using the purchase method of accounting.


                            THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.

Lease Program

    The following table sets forth the amount of DIRECTV U.S. set-top receivers
we capitalized, and depreciation expense we recorded, under the lease program
implemented in 2006 for each of the periods presented:

                                              Three Months Ended June 30,        Six Months Ended June 30,
Capitalized subscriber leased equipment:        2008              2007            2008              2007
                                                                  (Dollars in Millions)
Subscriber leased equipment-subscriber        $       125       $       171     $       281       $       359
acquisitions
Subscriber leased equipment-upgrade and                84               164             245               382
retention

Total subscriber leased equipment             $       209       $       335     $       526       $       741
capitalized

Depreciation expense-subscriber leased        $       261       $       143     $       502       $       257
equipment

KEY TERMINOLOGY

The following key terminology is used in management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations:

Revenues. We earn revenues mostly from monthly fees we charge subscribers for subscriptions to basic and premium channel programming, HD programming and access fees, pay-per-view programming, and seasonal and live sporting events. We also earn revenues from monthly fees that we charge subscribers with multiple non-leased set-top receivers (which we refer to as mirroring fees), monthly fees we charge subscribers for leased set-top receivers, monthly fees we charge subscribers for digital video recorder, or DVR, service, hardware revenues from subscribers who lease or purchase set-top receivers from us, our published programming guide, warranty service fees and advertising services.

Broadcast Programming and Other. These costs primarily include license fees for subscription service programming, pay-per-view programming, live sports and other events. Other costs include expenses associated with the publication and distribution of our programming guide, continuing service fees paid to third parties for active subscribers, warranty service costs and production costs for on-air advertisements we sell to third parties.

Subscriber Service Expenses. Subscriber service expenses include the costs of customer call centers, billing, remittance processing and certain home services expenses, such as in-home repair costs.

Broadcast Operations Expenses. These expenses include broadcast center operating costs, signal transmission expenses (including costs of collecting signals for our local channel offerings), and costs of monitoring, maintaining and insuring our satellites. Also included are engineering expenses associated with deterring theft of our signal.

Subscriber Acquisition Costs. These costs include the cost of set-top receivers and other equipment, commissions we pay to national retailers, independent satellite television retailers, dealers, regional Bell operating companies, and the cost of installation, advertising, marketing and customer call center expenses associated with the acquisition of new subscribers. Set-top receivers leased to new subscribers are capitalized in "Property and Equipment, net" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets and depreciated over their useful lives. The amount of set-top receivers capitalized each period for subscriber acquisitions is included in "Cash paid for property and equipment" in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.


THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.

Upgrade and Retention Costs. The majority of upgrade and retention costs are associated with upgrade efforts for existing subscribers that we believe will result in higher average monthly revenue per subscriber, or ARPU, and lower churn. Our upgrade efforts include subscriber equipment upgrade programs for DVR, HD and HD DVR receivers and local channels, our multiple set-top receiver offer and similar initiatives. Retention costs also include the costs of installing and providing hardware under our movers program for subscribers relocating to a new residence. Set-top receivers leased to existing subscribers under upgrade and retention programs are capitalized in "Property and equipment, net" in the Consolidated Balance Sheets and depreciated over their useful lives. The amount of set-top receivers capitalized each period for upgrade and retention programs is included in "Cash paid for property and equipment" in the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows.

General and Administrative Expenses. General and administrative expenses include departmental costs for legal, administrative services, finance, marketing and information technology. These costs also include expenses for bad debt and other operating expenses, such as legal settlements, and gains or losses from the sale or disposal of fixed assets.

Average Monthly Revenue Per Subscriber. We calculate ARPU by dividing average monthly revenues for the period (total revenues during the period divided by the number of months in the period) by average subscribers for the period. We calculate average subscribers for the period by adding the number of subscribers as of the beginning of the period and for each quarter end in the current year or period and dividing by the sum of the number of quarters in the period plus one.

Average Monthly Subscriber Churn. Average monthly subscriber churn represents the number of subscribers whose service is disconnected, expressed as a percentage of the average total number of subscribers. We calculate average monthly subscriber churn by dividing the average monthly number of disconnected subscribers for the period (total subscribers disconnected, net of reconnects, during the period divided by the number of months in the period) by average subscribers for the period.

Subscriber Count. The total number of subscribers represents the total number of subscribers actively subscribing to our service, including seasonal subscribers, subscribers who are in the process of relocating and commercial equivalent viewing units. In March 2008, we implemented a change in DIRECTV U.S.' commercial pricing and packaging to increase our competitiveness. As a result, during the first quarter of 2008, DIRECTV U.S. made a one-time downward adjustment to the subscriber count of approximately 71,000 subscribers related to commercial equivalent viewing units.

SAC. We calculate SAC, which represents total subscriber acquisition costs stated on a per subscriber basis, by dividing total subscriber acquisition costs for the period by the number of gross new subscribers acquired during the period. We calculate total subscriber acquisition costs for the period by adding together "Subscriber acquisition costs" expensed during the period and the amount of cash paid for equipment leased to new subscribers during the period.


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