The DirecTV Group (DTV)

Reporting Changes

Beginning in the third quarter of 2004, we disaggregated the Direct-To-Home Broadcast segment, which included the DIRECTV U.S. and DIRECTV Latin America businesses. We now report the DIRECTV U.S. and DIRECTV Latin America businesses as separate segments as provided by Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, or SFAS, No. 131, “Disclosures about Segments of an Enterprise and Related Information.”

Also in the third quarter of 2004, we changed the categories of operating costs and expenses included in the Consolidated Statements of Operations to a presentation that adds clarity and ease of understanding of the results of operations of our DTH businesses. The new operating cost and expense categories are as follows:

Broadcast Programming and Other Costs of Sale.    These costs primarily include license fees for subscription service programming, pay-per-view programming, live sports and other events. Other costs include expenses associated with the publication and distribution of DIRECTV-The Guide^®, continuing service fees paid to third parties for active DIRECTV subscribers, warranty service premiums we pay to a third party, production costs for on-air advertisements we sell to third parties and costs of other service and equipment sales.

Subscriber Service Expenses.    Subscriber service expenses include the costs of customer call centers, billing, remittance processing and certain home services expenses, such as in-home repair costs.

Subscriber Acquisition Costs—Third Party Customer Acquisitions.    These costs represent direct costs we incur to acquire new DIRECTV subscribers through third parties, which include our national retailers as well as independent satellite television retailers, dealers, RBOCs and others. These costs also consist of third party commissions, print and television advertising and subsidies we incur for DIRECTV System equipment, if any.

Subscriber Acquisition Costs—Direct Customer Acquisitions.    These costs consist primarily of hardware, installation, advertising, marketing and customer call center expenses associated with new DIRECTV subscribers added through our direct customer acquisition program.

Upgrade and Retention Costs.    The majority of upgrade and retention costs are associated with upgrade efforts for existing subscribers that we believe will result in higher ARPU and lower churn. Our upgrade efforts include our DVR, high-definition (HD) and local channel upgrade programs, our multiple set-top receiver offer and similar initiatives. Retention costs include the costs of installing and/or providing hardware under our movers program for subscribers relocating to a new residence.

Broadcast Operations Expenses.    These expenses include broadcast center operating costs, signal transmission expenses (including costs of collecting signals for our local channel offerings), and costs of monitoring, maintaining and insuring our satellites. Also included are engineering expenses associated with deterring theft of the DIRECTV signal.

General and Administrative Expenses.    General and administrative expenses include departmental costs for legal, administrative services, finance, marketing and information technology. These costs also include expenses for bad debt and other operating expenses, such as legal settlements, and gains or losses from the sale or disposal of fixed assets.

32

THE DIRECTV GROUP, INC.

In addition to the changes above, beginning on January 1, 2004, we allocate pension and other postretirement benefit expenses to our subsidiaries. Beginning in the fourth quarter of 2004, we report payments in transit drawn on bank accounts at financial institutions where we have no cash on deposit in “Accounts Payable” instead of our previous practice of deducting these payments in transit from “Cash and cash equivalents.” Prior period information has been reclassified to conform to the current period presentation.