DIRECTV Extends Qwest Resale Deal

DIRECTV will continue to have another strong sales channel, as today they announced that their resale deal with Qwest Communications has been extended for another five years.

The original Qwest-DIRECTV deal was inked in 2004, and is obviously working out well for both companies.  DIRECTV gets an additional sales force covering 14 states spanning from Minnesota to Arizona, and Qwest receives an additional income stream each and every month.   Qwest will continue to provide billing and customer service support to DIRECTV customers who order the service through the local telco.

An extension of the deal was necessary from Qwest’s standpoint.  While they could have hooked up with Dish Network as an alternative, no doubt it was easier to continue doing business with the largest satellite TV company in the United States.  Qwest does not offer any video services of their own, as they have shut down their limited Choice TV offering which was deployed in some areas of Colorado, Arizona and Nebraska.

The continuation of the deal is obviously great for DIRECTV as well.  It solidifies their alliance with all three of the local telecom giants, as they already have a resale deal with Verizon, and began doing business with a new AT&T-DIRECTV deal earlier this year.  While Qwest is much smaller in size when compared to Verizon and AT&T, customers who want a triple play bundle with Qwest basically have to go with DIRECTV.  Alternatively, customers of the other large telcos may have different options as AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS services are being pushed heavily in areas where they are available.

Qwest has continued to limp along as the forgotten step-child of the Baby Bell industry.  The company has been crippled by strong competition from Comcast and Cox cable, as well as the insider trading scandal surrounding former CEO Joe Nacchio.  Qwest also failed to get on the wireless bandwagon, shutting down their own regional service in favor of resale agreements with Sprint and now Verizon Wireless.

In announcing the extension of the DIRECTV-Qwest deal, the companies also promised some new integrated features for subscribers.  Remote recording will be available, allowing customers to program their DVR or order Video on Demand programs through their Qwest high speed internet connection.  A group of integrated calling features will also be available in the future, allowing customers to access calling features via their DIRECTV remote control.

So is a DIRECTV deal from Qwest right for you?  Pricing on the packages with DIRECTV and Qwest does not change from standard satellite TV pricing.  The only advantage may come from bundled savings, when you already have several Qwest services.  Beyond that, the online DIRECTV deals are generally just as good if not better than any found with the telecom companies.