• by Wayne Friedman , August 9, 2005

DirecTV, the large satellite TV distributor, trimmed back its in-house marketing efforts in the same quarter where it witnessed slow subscriber growth, according to recent financial filings.

Some 30 employees in the creative services area have been let go--including those in the area of on-air promotion and direct mail, according to reports. DirecTV may hire an outside company to take over some of these activities.

In its last quarterly report released a few days ago, DirecTV posted a profit--in part because of cutbacks in marketing. DirecTV posted net income of $162 million, versus a $13 million loss for the same period last year.

DirecTV only added 225,000 net subscribers for the quarter--which was down from the 409,000 subscribers in the second quarter 2004. Of its existing base of subscribers, DirecTV Chief Executive Chase Carey said the company trimmed back some because of a stricter credit screening policy that eliminated bad paying subscribers. DirecTV has grown by 13% over the past 12-month period, to 14.7 million subscribers at the end of the June quarter.