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Greene County, Indiana ~ Saturday, July 5, 2008
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DirecTV: A Bunch of Greedy @%$^%#&$
Posted Friday, March 14, 2008, at 8:04 PM
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If you just received your DirecTV bill this month, don't be surprised when you see a higher amount printed on your statement. For the second time in a year, they have raised their monthly fees for a total increase of about 15%.

Of course, it was once again without warning.

When I called earlier today about the surprise increase, the customer service rep said letters were mailed out two months ago, but I didn't see one. It seems it was a common problem because lots of people have called, she said.

My question: How hard would it be to print out a rate increase notice on the billing statements for one or two months ahead of time? I guess difficult. Perhaps, too obvious.

Isn't it too bad that the working class can't send bills out themselves for 15% higher pay without notice just like these corporate giants? No doubt, it was to support DirecTV CEO Carey Chase's outlandish salary and compensation package as shown below:

ANNUAL COMPENSATION*

Salary$2,149,590
Total Annual Compensation$2,149,590

STOCK OPTIONS*

Restricted Stock Awards$5,674,500
All Other Compensation$325,256
Exercisable Options$1,883,764
Exercisable Values$11,564,355
Total Value of Options$11,564,355
Total Number of Options1,883,764

TOTAL COMPENSATION*

Total Annual Cash$6,149,590
Total Short Term Compensation$2,149,590
Other Long Term Compensation$5,999,756
Total Calculated Compensation$12,470,904

Here's another question: Would you watch TV at home if you made as much money as he does? Total compensation of over $12 million dollars would rent a few DVDs -- certainly pay for a whole lot of month's membership to NetFlix -- plus give most people the ability to retire after only one year.

According to Yahoo! Finance, DirecTV (ticker: DTV) only made $1,451,000,000 last year. No, that's no typo, but just nearly a mere 1 ½ BILLION dollars.

It must be tough.


Comments
Showing comments in chronological order
[Show most recent comments first]

This maybe a way for the Universe to reach out and get you to watch less T.V.! haha Cancel the direct tv and put the money in your IRA

-- Posted by AnatasiaBeaverhausen on Fri, Mar 14, 2008, at 9:58 PM

"One possible solution is a la carte ordering where you could just order the channels that you want. Congress has been looking into the issue. But don't expect change anytime soon. The cable/satellite channels are lobbying hard to keep the system as it is because they could collectively lose"

Bingo! That's exactly what should happen, and it would be a huge win for consumers to be able to choose programming a la carte.

-- Posted by chriswathen on Sat, Mar 15, 2008, at 9:32 AM

Be careful switching to DISH tv though. I just did only to find out they don't carry an ABC channel. I can get all the other local channels through DISH but not ABC. And the Indy ABC denied by waiver because DISH has failed to negotiate a contract with them. ABC has contracts with DirecTV, cable, Verizon etc but DISH not dish. So I have to watch my ABC shows on the internet the next night. BUMMER!

-- Posted by Laker Mom on Sat, Mar 15, 2008, at 9:35 PM

As a family that has been abused by DirecTV's greedy policies, I applaud this article in pointing it out! For those who might need to know, you can get an ABC affiliate out of Atlanta (also you get the San Francisco feed) from All American Direct - I believe the website is AllAmericanDirect.com. It costs about $20 for six months and you have to remember to renew because they don't send you any kind of reminder, but it works! How else would I feed my addiction to "Lost". I found they're easy to deal with, but I recommend calling rather than purchasing through their website. I'd ditch DirecTV if it wasn't such a hassle.

-- Posted by berane on Sun, Mar 16, 2008, at 7:40 PM

Oops I meant to slam Dish Network,not DirecTV, although personally I consider them all greedy...people.

-- Posted by berane on Sun, Mar 16, 2008, at 7:41 PM

You can get ABC on Dish, but it will cost you about $2.00 a month. The channel isn't local either.

-- Posted by Temp77 on Mon, Mar 17, 2008, at 4:00 PM

lmao wathen..

-- Posted by america on Thu, May 1, 2008, at 9:47 PM


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