The DIRECTV Group Announces Second Quarter 2005 Results

Business Wire, August 4, 2005

In addition, DIRECTV U.S. redeemed $490 million, plus interest and a redemption premium, of its 8 3/8% senior notes in May 2005. In June, DIRECTV U.S. raised an additional $1 billion in 6 3/8% senior notes, of which $500 million of the proceeds was used to pay down the new Term Loan B discussed above and $500 million remains available for general corporate purposes.

CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION

A live webcast of The DIRECTV Group's second quarter 2005 earnings call will be available on the company's website at www.directv.com. The call will begin at 11:00 a.m. ET, today, August 4, 2005. The dial-in number for the call is 913-312-1295. The webcast will be archived on our website and a replay of the call will be available (dial-in number: 719-457-0820, code: 4219125) beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET today through 11:59 p.m. ET Monday, August 8, 2005.

FOOTNOTES

(1) Operating profit (loss) before depreciation and amortization,
    which is a financial measure that is not determined in accordance
    with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States
    of America, or GAAP, should be used in conjunction with other GAAP
    financial measures and is not presented as an alternative measure
    of operating results, as determined in accordance with accounting
    principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
    Please see each of The DIRECTV Group's and DIRECTV Holdings LLC's
    Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004,
    for further discussion of operating profit (loss) before
    depreciation and amortization. Operating profit before
    depreciation and amortization margin is calculated by dividing
    operating profit before depreciation and amortization by total
    revenues.

(2) Free cash flow, which is a financial measure that is not
    determined in accordance with GAAP, is calculated by deducting
    amounts under the captions "Expenditures for property and
    equipment" and "Expenditures for satellites" from "Net cash
    provided by (used in) operating activities" from the Consolidated
    Statements of Cash Flows. This financial measure should be used in
    conjunction with other GAAP financial measures and is not
    presented as an alternative measure of cash flows from operating
    activities, as determined in accordance with GAAP. The DIRECTV
    Group and DIRECTV U.S. management use free cash flow to evaluate
    the cash generated by DIRECTV U.S.' current subscriber base, net
    of capital expenditures, for the purpose of allocating resources
    to activities such as adding new subscribers, retaining and
    upgrading existing subscribers, and for additional capital
    expenditures. The DIRECTV Group and DIRECTV U.S. believe this
    measure is useful to investors, along with other GAAP measures
    (such as cash flows from operating and investing activities), to
    compare DIRECTV U.S.' operating performance to other
    communications, entertainment, and media companies. We believe
    that investors also use current and projected free cash flow to
    determine the ability of our current and projected subscriber base
    to fund required and discretionary spending and to help determine
    the financial value of the company.