DIRECTV Names Michael White as New President and CEO

[Scott Greczkowski]

DIRECTV Names Michael White as New President and CEO

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Nov 18, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- DIRECTV, the world's leading provider of digital television services, today named Michael White as its new President and CEO. White announced in September that he will retire later this year from his current position as CEO of PepsiCo International and vice chairman of PepsiCo. He will assume his new role at DIRECTV beginning Jan. 1, 2010, and has also joined DIRECTV's Board of Directors. John Malone, Chairman of the DIRECTV Board, made the announcement today.

"After a very thorough search, we have found an exceptional leader with a sustained track record of success, profitably growing businesses and a reputation for making the impossible possible," said Malone. "Mike also brings the highest degree of leadership, innovation and passion to the table - all qualities that will help drive DIRECTV's performance in the coming years. I look forward to watching him build on DIRECTV's success and lead the company to an exciting new future."

Malone added, "I'd also like to thank Larry Hunter for filling the role of interim CEO since June. He and the entire management team have done an incredible job of keeping the business running smoothly during the past six months and we are lucky to have such an experienced executive team."

Since joining PepsiCo in 1990 as vice president of planning for Frito-Lay North America (FLNA), White has held many senior positions there, including CFO of FLNA, executive vice president and CFO of Frito-Lay International, CFO of Pepsi-Cola Company worldwide and CFO of PepsiCo.

During that time he led a transformation of PepsiCo's international business and has helped engineer numerous acquisitions, including the pending agreements to acquire the company's two largest bottlers, the Pepsi Bottling Group and PepsiAmericas. Prior to PepsiCo, White also held executive positions at Avon Products, Inc., Bain & Company and Arthur Andersen & Co.

"This is an exciting time to be taking the reins at DIRECTV," said White. "It's a great company with the best television service and a strong brand, offering plenty of opportunities and challenges and I can't wait to meet both head on. I look forward to working with the talented management team and employees as we continue to grow the business, delight the customer and further distance DIRECTV's leadership position."

 

[Big Dawg 23]

Should be interesting. He has the resume but it is a whole different market. The transition for some people does'nt usually go so well.

 

[cfb]

Finance guy with a background among companies where cost control is pretty much jobs 1, 2 and 3.

Great from a shareholders perspective, i'm sure he'll drive costs down and profitability up.

Maybe not so good from a customer perspective.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I hope he brings a spirit of innovation to a company that has grown very stagnant in recent years.

 

[lee78221]

Should be interesting. He has the resume but it is a whole different market. The transition for some people does'nt usually go so well.

Most of DirecTVs past CEOs didn't work with anything close to a multichannel provider before DirecTV.

 

[wildbill129]

Keeping my fingers crossed for some big changes!!

 

[stonecold]

Yeah I got my letter in the mail box to day saying sorry they felt I was too radical for the CEO's position.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Following up on my previous comments about D* being stagnant, I am glad that they did not promote someone from within. Perhaps there were good people within D*, but odds are that they would have been more of the same.

 

[cfb]

I dont want to jinx him, but the last time I saw a beverage company guy take over a technically oriented company was John Sculley taking over Apple in 1985...

 

[raoul5788]

Yeah I got my letter in the mail box to day saying sorry they felt I was too radical for the CEO's position.

The Hell you say!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Hes a financial guy, no word on how he is with technology. I was hoping for a guy who was good with financials but also understood the technology so that DirecTV could make some much needed advances in their receivers.

Even the new HR-24 they are working on is still based off of the HR-20 and has most of the issues.

They need a real next generation box. Something fast with memory with HD guides.

How long are they going to stay with the old?

 

[TheForce]

I dont want to jinx him, but the last time I saw a beverage company guy take over a technically oriented company was John Sculley taking over Apple in 1985...

 

[TheForce]

Having a history in the food chemical business many years ago, I know the way to raise bottom line is to water down the product. That is exactly what they did at Pepsi. So, how does that equate to the Satellite TV business? ans. water down the channels with compression!

White enters a company that is already #1 in subscribers so all he needs to do is maintain that position even if it means some level of churn now. He can offset a level of dissatisfaction by his subscribers by a double digit % since the company has a healthy lead over Dish Network. To improve profits, he needs to water down the product. aka as cutting costs. I know that DirecTV is a good paying company so payroll freezing and salary / benefits cutting may be on the table. Slowly reducing expenditures on programming is another. It has appeared over the years that DirecTV never had a fierce programming negotiator as Dish does. They just accepted price increases and passed it on to the subscribers with rates. That may change with a new Programming negotiator, one with ruthless skills at the table.

Scott is correct in that DirecTV has poor rating with the equipment. I would never go back to D* with their present linup of receiver choices. It's a no brainer with their features and reliability. Heck the latest Dish receivers even run rings around TIVO. The best advice I have for White is to just go with TIVO to even stay in the equipment race with Echostar.

Sports- Once again this has been D*'s main draw but Dish is right at their heals. Their best chance to remain on top is to spread the costs of NFL ST a bit and get more people on board with a more affordable subscription rate. Scott had a good idea recently and drop the HD surcharge for starters. Next negotiate a no blackout rule for subscribers. If necessary, some of the NFL ST money could go back to the locals to help defray that blackout policy. Soimething needs to be done about blackouts for people who pay to see the games. Blackouts should only affect the freeloaders.

 

[yorktown]

When the prices of the programming packages go up a little bit in February or March like they always do there will be someone posting -

The new Pres. raised the prices of everything !!

 

[cfb]

Don - Fantastic post. I agree with everything you said.

 

[stonecold]

Going to start a Online petition to get me to the top. lol

 

[raoul5788]

Sports- Once again this has been D*'s main draw but Dish is right at their heals. Their best chance to remain on top is to spread the costs of NFL ST a bit and get more people on board with a more affordable subscription rate. Scott had a good idea recently and drop the HD surcharge for starters. Next negotiate a no blackout rule for subscribers. If necessary, some of the NFL ST money could go back to the locals to help defray that blackout policy. Soimething needs to be done about blackouts for people who pay to see the games. Blackouts should only affect the freeloaders.

Ask a Yankee fan if they would consider going to Dish. There are more fans of the Yankees than any other baseball team. Ask an NFL fan if they would consider going to Dish. As far a blackouts, they are up to the leagues. I doubt what little money local stations could get through your idea would make much of a difference. I agree that blackouts are a bad idea, but they are here to stay.

 

[scoop8]

Ask a Yankee fan if they would consider going to Dish. There are more fans of the Yankees than any other baseball team. Ask an NFL fan if they would consider going to Dish. As far a blackouts, they are up to the leagues. I doubt what little money local stations could get through your idea would make much of a difference. I agree that blackouts are a bad idea, but they are here to stay.

I agree. If one is a Satt Sports fan, imo, there's only 1 choice at present. I never did comparisons with Dish due to ST, but it surprised me when I read here that Dish doesn't carry YES. Correct me here but Dish doesn't carry EI ?

Do they carry CI? NBA League Pass? College football Gameplan? (I admit GP is a weak pkg, imo). How about the March Madness college basketball pkg? I know about Vs but they had that svc turned off a while back by a similar dispute, right?

I'm not trying to be "anti-Dish" sarcastic, I really haven't done the comparisons. I know that a lot of guys here have done that and know the info.

If one is primarily a movie HD fan, that may be a different comparison. Just from what I read, it is my perception that Dish is ahead of DTV in that area.

 

[TheForce]

raoul- I was not attempting to debate the Dish vs. D* sports packages for existing fans of D*. I was making suggestions on what D* needs to do to bring in additional subscribers to their packages, how they should adjust them to attract additional revenue. None of what I recommended would hurt the die hard ever faithful no matter what anyone else has D* fanatic.

Personally, I admit, I am not a NFL zombie on Sundays. I support my home team, have n8ot only attended the games but have worked a camera in the north tower a few years back. BUT, it is not a major factor in my viewing budget. IMO, the NFL ST has two negatives for the non-Sunday NFL zombie prospect subscriber, it is cost and blackouts.

I doubt what little money local stations could get through your idea would make much of a difference. I agree that blackouts are a bad idea, but they are here to stay.

Sorry, but I don't believe blackouts are here to stay. One day they will be put on the negotiating table and one day it will be decided that those who PAY TO SEE THE GAME, don't get blacked out. When I said back to the locals, I didn't mean the TV stations ( sorry, I know the way I wrote it was confusing). TV broadcasting is done regardless of the ticket sales and local blackouts. It is NOT done by the local stations but by independent production companies who specialize in that type of sports casting. The come in from out of town most of the time and sometimes hire local people when they are short staffed, which is how I got on the job a couple of times. What I meant about NFL ST revenue going back to the locals was going back to the local NFL franchise team. It offsets the ticket sales money that is lost when the team doesn't sell out and creates a blackout. The local stations get paid just for the time they carry the feed by selling local advertising and insert time is granted by the NFL for that purpose.
Heck, I'm even going to go out on a limb here and suggest the NFL develop a way to generate revenue through PPV event sales through cable, and all sat and tele services. The secret to improving revenues is to develop additional ways of generating that revenue by targeting a new potential market, not by raising the rates on existing fans.

 

[Rey]

Hes a financial guy, no word on how he is with technology. I was hoping for a guy who was good with financials but also understood the technology so that DirecTV could make some much needed advances in their receivers.

Even the new HR-24 they are working on is still based off of the HR-20 and has most of the issues.

They need a real next generation box. Something fast with memory with HD guides.

How long are they going to stay with the old?

agreed.