DIRECTV: Two More HDTV Satellites Planned?

DIRECTV last year launched a new satellite for High-Definition programming and it's scheduled to launch another one next month.

However, the satcaster revealed yesterday that a third satellite could be in the works to expand high-def capacity even further.

Chase Carey, DIRECTV's CEO, told Wall Street analysts in an investors call on the company's fourth quarter results that it's now spending money on developing the third satellite, called D12. (Next month's satellite is D11.)

"We do have D11 and D12 spending (in the company's capital expenditures)," he said. "We haven’t really made a final decision on the D12 launch plans so we don’t have those finalized yet."