Satellite Direct magazine has folded

[harrisburgpatv]

Can't say I'm completely surprised by this..

I feel like I may have been the only one left subscribing to Satellite Direct magazine (a monthly programming guide for DirecTV). They were having problems accepting logins to access the magazine digitally - the last time I called a few weeks ago, they had a recording up that they were working on it and that it would be resolved soon. It's usually around the 15th of the month when they throw the new issue up online.

Called today for a status - "Thank you for calling Satellite Direct. Please note that the company is permanently closed. Our final issue was published in December 2025. Thank you and have a nice day."

The magazine was bordering on unusable - a good chunk of the movie listings simply said "Movie" the closer to the month one got.

 

[John2021]

i remember subscribing to satellite direct back in the day.. got rid of it and just used the guide on the box

 

[b4pjoe]

I used to work on on the printing of the magazine back in the 1990's. I am shocked it was still around.

Actually this is the one we printed. Not Satellite Direct.

 

[John2021]

i wonder how were still buying it i am surprized it's still around

 

[harrisburgpatv]

i wonder how were still buying it i am surprized it's still around

Trust me, I was, too. I can't imagine there were many subscribers left.

It's been interesting seeing the "evolution'" of the magazine as I bought a few off Ebay. The earliest issue I have is November 1995, and they have a full breakdown of every day's PPV offerings with dates and times, and ads for some of the channel packages (like HBO The Works). I have a few from 2000, and it looks the same, but now includes some local channel listings.

2011 seems to be the turning point and when it was sold to Captive Media. The only ad I saw (August 2011 issue) had a Speed Channel ad. The magazine retained this look for the next 14 years. For at least the last 7, the only ads were to cure polio, and for Cat and Dog magazines.

 

[telstar_1]

Not exactly a captive audience...