DTV Announce Price Increases For Popular Packages

Analysts at Morgan Stanley maintain their "overweight" rating on DirecTV Group Inc (NYSE: DTV). The target price for DTV is set to $39.

According to Morgan Stanley, the successful launch of DirecTV’s DirecTV 12 is expected to increase the company’s national HD capacity by around 50% to more than 200 channels. The company has announced an around 5% price increase for its popular packages. The analysts say that these two events indicate that DTV’s 2010 ARPU would be ahead of the consensus.

The analysts expect DirecTV to announce an expansion to its HD lineup, following a few months of diagnostic testing. The expansion would broaden DTV’s HD capacity lead over cable, the analysts say.