The explosion of the $300 million Dutch satellite New Skies-8 satellite will delay DirecTV's (DTV) planned expansion to its promised HDTV offering this year. The satellite has launched from a Sea Launch floating platform. The satellite that was destroyed wasn't a property of DirecTV.
DirecTV's bold strategy to launch 100 national HDTV channels, still plans on launching two other satellites this year to help to meet their promise: DirecTV-10 and DirecTV-11. The DirecTV-10 is scheduled to be launched in June on the ground. The DirecTV-11 was scheduled for launch from the Sea Launch platform 
and will be delayed. They are looking for other options but haven't been able to land an alternative site yet.
Craig Moffett, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein, wrote in a note Wednesday that “Any delay in DirecTV's HDTV strategy is an incremental negative for the company. But the impact is likely smaller than initial reports may have suggested. Having to delay expanding their HD locals footprint is clearly a setback, but we believe the impact is likely to be relatively modest.”
Later this year competitor EchoStar Communications (DISH) had an agreement in place to launch from Sea Launch as well. There's no news on whether EchoStar XI will remain on schedule or not. “We are evaluating a variety of potential scenarios and options at this time,” said Kathie Gonzalez, EchoStar’s director of corporate communications.
DirecTV said in a prepared statement that they have a number of possibilities in spite of the setback and will continue to use them to keep the HD rollout going at the national and local level.
Comment Preview