[John Corn]

Direct-broadcast satellite companies DirecTV Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. plan to turn up the heat in their fight for market share against beleaguered Adelphia Communications Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week.

DirecTV today (July 1) is expected to unleash a print and radio media blitz in the Los Angeles market, offering cable subscribers the opportunity to get satellite television installed in two rooms for $50 or less. To back the offer, the DBS company has enlisted a number of local installers and retailers, including consumer electronics stores Best Buy Co., Good Guys! Inc. and Circuit City Stores Inc., DirecTV executive vice president of marketing, advertising and product development Larry Chapman said.

"We believe the [bankruptcy] issue has just started to receive consumer attention," Chapman said in speaking about the timing of the campaign. "It's hit the consumer press" after being relegated to the financial trades for weeks.

"We wanted to time the offer to occur with maximum exposure," Chapman added. "I think our timing is right. If you come in too early, people don't understand what the issue is."

DirecTV plans to word the ads carefully so that they don't appear too negative, relying instead on the mainstream press to play up any uncertainty about the cable company's future.

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[Steve Mehs]

Great oppertunity for E* and D* to get a bunch of new subs in Adelphia areas. I'm glad they wont be so negative, even though what they say would most likely be true

 

[Mike]

Here in Anaheim, this is Adelphia territory. Same sales guy comes by my apartment every few months thinking someone else has moved in. I just open the door all the way for him to see my back patio and the 6 dishes that sit out there from c, ku, DirecTV and Dish. He just smiles and moves on as was the case last week.

There's more dishes that pop up here by the month. I've seen 2 more in the last few weeks in the complex. I will walk around tomorrow morning to look for more before the baseball games start. I think the 2 new ones are pointed at ExpressVu. Way too East for DirecTV and Dish. It's either 91 or 61.5, but I think ExpressVu. This complex has 12 that I know about now with 2 more that have moved out in the last few months. Most are on pipes to clear the apartments if they have a North facing apartment. There's one up on the roof in the building that I'm in for one of the apartments though. I can see 4 dishes now from my back patio. Kind of makes the scenery prettier.

 

[Ronmort]

I live in Adelphia territory here in Northeast PA. This has to be the worst Adelphia cable system in America. However, if DTV put on locals in a place like this, they would get tons of customers. Dish would be wasting their time because this is a big sports area with tons of Yankee fans (I am not one.) Since they could not or would not get YES, I don't thimk Dish would go over as well as DTV. These are the areas that would ditch cable in large numbers, but we will be the last to get locals.