Digital-subscriber-line service provider Telocity Inc. officially announced
its new service name Tuesday, DirecTV DSL. Telocity is also changing its company
name to DirecTV Broadband Inc.
DirecTV Inc. parent Hughes Electronics Corp. closed its purchase of Telocity
in April, and it has promoted the new brand on a limited basis through direct
mail and on DirecTV's Web site.
Ned Hayes, president and CEO of DirecTV Broadband, said DirecTV DSL is just
the first of many DirecTV-tagged names that will be introduced as the company
unveils new features to take advantage of the broadband service, such as home
networking.
The company plans first to introduce the new DirecTV DSL brand to its
high-speed Internet customers, as well as to its video customers, through
electronic-mail and direct-mail campaigns. DirecTV DSL also plans radio
campaigns in key markets within the next few weeks, and the company is working
with DirecTV on an infomercial for its satellite-TV customers.
Next month, the company hopes to test its first retail introduction of
DirecTV DSL. While Hayes said the specific retailer had not yet been signed, he
added that it was likely to be one of the existing DirecTV retailers, such as
Best Buy Co. Inc., RadioShack Corp. and Circuit City Stores Inc.
'We want to make sure our first foot into the retail space is a sure-footed
one,' he added.
DirecTV Inc. and DirecTV Broadband are still looking at how they will bundle
their products together and offer consumer discounts through retail, Hayes said.
He added that such bundles would help DirecTV to compete more effectively with
cable as that industry continues to roll out its cable-modem services.
Existing customers will keep the 'telocity.com' tag on their e-mail
addresses, but new customers will have some form of DirecTV -- such as
DirecTVbroadband.com or DirecTVInternet.com -- in their e-mail addresses.
DirecTV DSL serves as an Internet-service provider for its high-speed
customers. The company is exploring ways to work with DirecTV to create
exclusive content, such as video streaming, for its portal.
According to Hayes, DirecTV DSL will try to attract customers away from not
only dial-up ISPs, but also from cable modems and even other DSL
providers.
