The DirecTV satellite-TV service is launching a major drive to tap into the more than 500,000-unit apartment market in L.A.

Starting in August, DirecTV will begin installing satellite dishes for apartments, condominiums and other multi-unit housing complexes in Los Angeles as well as Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas and New York.

DirectTV began marketing its satellite television service for single family homes in 1994, but avoided apartments until now because it first wanted to establish its reputation and because of technical problems.

“We always believed there was a market in the multiple housing unit segment … but wanted to establish a powerful brand name and reputation (first),” says Robert Mercer, spokesman for El Segundo-based DirecTV.

But technical problems were perhaps the bigger obstacle. Until recently, numerous satellite dishes were needed to service a multiple-unit complex. Apartment owners were not thrilled with the idea of covering their roofs with row upon row of dishes.

“The system was initially designed for single-family households … we had to enlarge the size of the dish and work out wiring issues,” said Mercer.

DirecTV recently designed a dish that is about one and a half times as large as a regular dish, Mercer said big enough to develop a strong signal for multiple units, but small enough to keep apartment owners happy.

The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, which represents landlords, is currently negotiating with DirecTV to get favorable rates for its 11,000 members, said association spokesman Kevin Postema.

“I’ve seen some of the packages (they’ve) got. You get a lot more for a lot less than cable,” Postema said. “We’re trying to get a special deal for our members.”

Keeping a close watch on DirecTV’s campaign is the cable industry.

“Do we see them as a threat? We see them as viable competition,” said Joann Dobbs, spokeswoman for Denver-based Tele-Communications Inc., the nation’s largest cable operator which has systems locally in Arcadia and the City of Industry. “We need to be competitive in every way and every sense.”

DirecTV is a unit of General Motor Corp.’s Hughes Electronics subsidiary. It has an estimated 2.6 million subscribers nationwide, although company officials would not disclose the number of subscribers locally.

Mercer also would not estimate how many new subscribers it expects to gain by marketing to apartment owners.

“The size of the market is something we haven’t broken down in L.A.,” said Mercer. “I think what we really want to do is roll out this program without making any significant predictions.”

In order to reach property owners and homeowner associations, DirecTV has contracted with local independent installers, many of whom also work as cable television installers.

DirecTV will sell satellite equipment at a lower cost to the independent contractor, known as a system operator, who will solicit apartment owners and homeowners associations.

The system operator also installs and maintains the satellite equipment. Normally, single-family home owners buy the dish from a local distributor and maintain it themselves.

“DirecTV will cut into the cable business to a certain extent,” conceded Matthew Zinn, corporate counsel for Boston-based MediaOne, which operates the systems formerly run by Continental Cablevision in Los Angeles.

Zinn and TCI’s Dobbs, however, insisted that DirecTV is an inferior service because customers cannot get local broadcast stations via satellite.

The big selling point for DirecTV is the clarity of its digital signal and the number of channels. DirecTV recently filed an application with the FCC to launch six additional satellites beginning in 1999. This will give DirecTV the potential of bringing in 500 channels.

To jump over the local channel hurdle, the satellite-giant plans to install off-air antennas to get local signals in addition to its satellite dishes.

“You could jump through hoops, (But) they’re still going to have disadvantages,” responded Dobbs.

In the end, the consumer may be the one who benefits from the expanded choices becoming available.

“Anytime you have competition it’s great for the consumer, says John Mansell, senior analyst with media watch firm Paul Kagan & Associates. “More innovation and introduction of new services will be quicker.”