DirecTV Opens Missoula, Montana Call Center – unveils employee-friendly digs

DirecTV Opens Montana Call Center to Support Additional Growth

Satellite broadcaster DirecTV said Monday it opened a Montana call center to help handle continued growth.

The Missoula, Mont., facility is the company’s fourth owned-and-operated call center. DirecTV said it expects to hire more than 600 customer service agents for the center by the end of the year, and the 74,000 square-foot facility has the capacity to employ up to 1,000.

The company said it will be among Montana’s largest employers.

Shares of DirecTV Group Inc. rose 69 cents, or 3.6 percent, to $20 in after-hours trading on the INET electronic exchange. They had closed up 32 cents at $19.31 on the New York Stock Exchange, where they’ve ranged between $13.17 and $19.93 over the past year.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060925/directv_montana.html?.v=1

***

DirecTV unveils employee-friendly digs

DirecTV got a chance Monday to show off its new Missoula call center – the first the company has built from the ground up – and it seems all of the key players in making it happen were on hand to celebrate.

Montana Sen. Max Baucus said the effort that convinced DirecTV to put the call center in Missoula was a perfect example of something he has said over and over again.

“Anything of consequence requires teamwork,” Baucus said during his remarks to a packed auditorium in the spectacular, 74,000-square-foot building off Expressway and just below I-90.

Baucus – a DirecTV customer himself – said he could hardly wait to put in a day’s work at the new facility, although he admitted major back-up assistance would likely be necessary.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer – also heavily involved in the DirecTV process – said people shouldn’t underestimate the impact that Baucus, Montana’s senior senator, has on putting such deals together.

By BILL SCHWANKE of Missoulian.com

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2006/09/26/web/webnews/wnews42.txt