10 Cable Networks Commit Programs to DirecTv Project

DirecTv, a fledgling satellite TV service scheduled to begin operation next year, announced Wednesday that it has secured programming from 10 cable TV networks.

The General Motors’ Hughes Electronics subsidiary plans to launch a 150-channel satellite system next April aimed at the 38% of the country that does not get cable TV.

Hughes is spending $600 million to build and launch two high-powered satellites that will beam a mix of movies, sports, cable TV channels and “special event” programs to subscribers. Viewers, however, must first shell out $700 for an 18-inch satellite TV dish, decoder and remote control.

The cable TV channels DirecTv will offer include CNN, Headline News, the Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, USA Network, the Sci-Fi Channel, the Nashville Network, Country Music Television and the Family Channel.

“We got the ball definitely rolling in cable TV,” said DirecTv President Eddy Hartenstein, who said he expects to sign up 20 to 30 cable TV networks by launch time next year.

DirecTv has made deals with Paramount and Columbia and expects to have them with all the major studios, which will supply a steady flow of movies about a month after their home video release but before they appear on cable channels such as HBO.

Unlike cable, however, which now offers most viewers a choice of only two or three movies on a pay-per-view basis, DirecTv could show as many as 20 to 30 different titles with start times every half an hour.

Hughes is getting into the television business at a particularly competitive time as cable TV operators begin upgrading their systems to 500 channels and other multichannel broadcasters enter the fray. Minneapolis-St. Paul-based United States Satellite Broadcasting plans to offer 20 channels starting in March.

How quickly DirecTv can attract and hold on to subscribers remains to be seen. In addition to the $700 to outfit a TV set, subscribers will probably pay about $25 a month for the service.