In its yearslong battle with cable-TV operators, DirecTV Group Inc.’s Achilles’ heel has been its inability to offer any sort of video-on-demand service. The company intends to change that, the Wall Streeet Journal reports.

The No. 1 satellite-TV provider by subscribers is testing its own version of an on-demand movies and television service that it plans to launch in the second quarter. If successful, the offering could give DirecTV a weapon to lure customers who want on-demand offerings previously available only on cable or newer phone-company TV services.

DirecTV On Demand uses a combination of digital-video-recorder technology and broadband connections to overcome satellite’s technological limitations. Unlike cable and phone companies, satellite TV doesn’t use a terrestrial network — relying instead on a mostly one-way broadcast technology.

irecTV’s satellites will automatically transmit a limited number of popular movie titles to customers’ digital video recorders, where they will be stored for viewers to order whenever they want. Viewers will be able to order other titles, including TV programs, by streaming them from the Web through a high-speed Internet connection on the DirecTV set-top box. DirecTV says that about half of its customers currently have high-speed Internet connections.

In some ways, DirecTV’s service is similar to a much more limited offering introduced by Dish Network Corp. last fall. That service also uses broadband connections to deliver on demand content, but is limited to pay movies. Dish declined to comment on the performance of the service since its launch.

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