DirecTV Unit Chief Quits
A top executive at DirecTV left the company as CEO Chase Carey consolidated his control of the satellite television broadcaster.
DirecTV said Mitch Stern, who had been president and CEO of its DirecTV Inc. operating subsidiary, left effective today. Carey will take over his roles, and the company won’t replace Stern. Stern and Carey both joined DirecTV at the end of 2003 as the company came under the control of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.
Monday’s move came just over a month after DirecTV posted disappointing fourth-quarter results that suggested subscriber growth was flattening out. Though the company added 444,000 users in the quarter, it missed some analysts’ projections. Meanwhile subscriber acquisition costs jumped nearly 5%, and monthly customer defections, or churn, inched higher.