REPORT: DIRECTV DEVELOPING ONLINE PACKAGES

Taking a kind of if-you-can’t-beat-’em-join-’em approach, DirecTV is reportedly planning to launch an online video service that would have special appeal for those who have dropped their cable or satellite services or are thinking of doing so. For DirecTV, such a service could partially protect it from subscriber losses. Satellite operators are particularly vulnerable to cable-cutters since in most cases cable companies provide both pay-TV and cable, generally packaged together, to subscribers. Satellite operators, on the other hand, have yet to develop a high-speed Internet service that can effectively compete with cable’s. DirecTV Chief Executive Mike White told today’s (Friday) Wall Street Journal that the company is already well down the path to obtaining program rights for its planned video service, which, he said, would be aimed at “niche” audiences.