DIRECTV has gone through a lot of change in its almost 30 years. When it started, it was part of the Hughes division of General Motors. It spent many years as an independent entity with different majority owners. At one point it was controlled by News Corp., the same people who today bring you Fox News Channel In 2015, the company was bought by AT&T, and last year AT&T spun DIRECTV back off as an independent entity, with AT&T as the primary investor.
This has caused a lot of changes in leadership and leadership style. The company that once thought of itself as a spunky upstart is now the largest pay-TV company in the world, and sometimes that means a little more decorum.
I miss Investor Days
I do miss the old Investor Days, though. There was a time when DIRECTV opened up its investor meetings to anyone who chose to make the trek to its offices. This practice seems to have stopped in the AT&T days. Besides, the internet allows all of us to be virtually present, which is better in a lot of ways. But Investor Days were a sort of rally for DIRECTV, a time to get excited about what was to come.
At Investor Day, there were new technologies shown, promises of future growth, and a completely new perspective on satellite TV. It wasn’t really just for investors. Hobbyists loved it too. I know, because I was one of them.
Oh what a circus, oh what a show
Back then, Investor Day was an event. Everyone talked about it, talked about what little tidbits might have been unintentionally unveiled. Those familiar with the technologies mined every word for hints of what might be coming next.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at my Investor Day coverage from 2013, which was really the last time that this sort of event took place. I mean, you’re seeing things on those slides that are just now really starting to catch on, like 4K adoption (referred to as UHD — that term was really the way the industry referred to it at that time.)
The difference back then was DIRECTV’s Chief Technology Officer Romulo Pontual, who was a genuine techie himself who loved the idea that the equipment could be used in interesting an innovative ways. I met Mr. Pontual on several occasions — he was the sort of person you naturally called “Mr. Pontual” — and take it from me he’s one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met.
In its final years before AT&T’s reign, there were calls with financial announcements. However, they weren’t the exciting shows that they were in the late ’00s. They didn’t have any new technology information. When things were rolled out they only were mentioned in the context of improving or impacting the bottom line. Honestly that’s probably the way a financial announcement should be.
You can’t blame me, though, if I miss the fun and games that we all used to have in previous years. The new DIRECTV management doesn’t seem to have any interest in going back to the way things were, though. I guess that means I’ll have to get my entertainment somewhere else.
