Hmmm, according to their 3rd quarterly report:
"Net subscriber additions in the quarter declined to 136,000 as an increase in gross additions was more than offset by higher customer disconnects. The 8% increase in gross additions to 1,086,000 in the third quarter was mainly due to marketing of the AT&T/DIRECTV bundle which began in February 2009, as well as higher demand for HD and DVR services. Customer disconnects were higher in the quarter due to a higher monthly churn rate of 1.72% on a larger subscriber base. The increase in the churn rate was primarily due to stricter retention and upgrade policies, as well as more aggressive competitor promotions."
In short, they lost customers at a higher rate than previously. Averaging to 20% of their customers taking a walk per year. Thats a lot.
I think we just identified why they put the two year contracts in place. They were losing too many customers too quickly. Instead of trying to figure out why and fix those problems, they 'fixed' the symptom.