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DirecTV Links Bundling Agreement With Qwest

Oct 7, 2004  •  Post A Comment

DirecTV Group on Thursday inked an agreement with telecommunications company Qwest Communications to combine their services in a product bundle that would be offered to customers in the western part of the United States.

No financial terms were disclosed, but the deal appears to be similar to others that have been struck between satellite operators and telephone companies-two parties bent on unseating cable’s dominance as a video and data services provider. So far, the results have been strong, with both DirecTV and rival EchoStar Communications producing strong growth in recent quarters, in large part due to their partnerships with local phone companies.

As part of the partnership, DirecTV will provide services to augment Qwest’s phone service and digital subscriber line services. Qwest will handle customer service, billing and collection efforts, while DirecTV will handle delivering equipment to subscribers and ongoing customer service.

The two companies will also develop a plan to offer Qwest’s DSL service to existing DirecTV customers in Qwest’s footprint. Qwest and DirecTV also struck a separate agreement under which Qwest provides DirecTV service to multiple-dwelling units such as apartments.

DirecTV’s deal with Qwest comes less than a month after EchoStar announced it would not expand a similar bundling partnership with Qwest, opting to focus on other telco partnerships, such as its successful one with SBC Communications.