DirecTV In Talks With Companies Mulling Wireless Service

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV), the country's largest satellite TV provider, is in talks with a number of telecommunications providers about possibly adding a wireless service, Chief Executive Chase Carey said Tuesday.

Carey, who was speaking at an investor conference in New York that was Webcast, said the company is still mulling the prospect.

"No decision has been made. We are in the middle of it and are aggressively examining it, talking to a wide range of partners," he said.

Since cable and now phone carriers started introducing bundles of TV, Internet, and phone services, DirecTV, which sells satellite TV to 14.6 million subscribers in the U.S., has struggled to come up with a competing bundle. Satellite systems don't lend themselves to two-way communications. DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) has teamed up with BellSouth Corp. (BLS) and Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) to create a bundle. But both, along with SBC Communications Inc. (SBC), have been investing heavily in upgrading their own networks to provide TV and are withdrawing from such partnerships.

Carey has previously said the company was looking into various broadband technologies such as Internet over powerlines and wimax. In the meantime, DirecTV is continuing to focus on its core business of television, Carey said.

Similarly, cable provider Comcast Corp. (CMCSA, CMCSK), which presented at the investor conference later, noted that it has also been looking into adding a wireless service. Chief Executive Brian Roberts said Comcast has been working with a group of cable companies. Comcast is not interested in merely tacking on a wireless phone service, he continued, but in exploring next-generation technologies to see how Comcast's services might be applied to wireless applications.

-By Ellen Sheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5863; ellen.sheng@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires "

Posted to the site on 22nd September 2005