In what appears to be a page taken out of the playbook of the satellite radio industry, DirecTV Inc. has struck a deal with homebuilder D.R. Horton Inc. to get its direct-to-home satellite television services into the home during the construction phase.

Beginning this year, D.R. Horton model homes and design centers in select but not yet announced markets will feature home theater and/or entertainment systems with DirecTV service, giving homebuyers the option to purchase a “DirecTV-Ready” home.

“There has been a boom in home theater systems,” DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer told Satellite News. “Many of our customers have home theater systems and many homes are being built to accommodate home theater systems so it made sense for us to get in on the ground floor, if you will, with a builder.”

The DirecTV ready homes will have special features making it easy to facilitate the installation of DirecTV equipment. “It will have all the latest wiring and antenna system installed,” Mercer said. “We will be able to accommodate a variety of different services. Future homeowners will have all the appropriate hookups. There is going to be very high- tech equipment that the future homeowner will likely install, such as a high definition television set so we will have the wiring and appropriate antenna set up to handle that.”

And the homes also will have the exterior constructed with the presence of an antenna in mind. “From what I understand, they will make accommodations for [making the antenna less obvious on the home landscape], Mercer noted. “I don’t know any specifics on how they are going to do that, but I am sure they will find an appropriate and unobtrusive place to put the dish.”

Mercer did not have any details on whether there would be any special incentives offered to new homeowners for buying a DirecTV-ready home. “They are still working out some of the details on the marketing side so it’s just a little early yet to provide any information.” However, he did say that there would be no discounting of the programming packages.

Likewise, Mercer declined to talk about what DirecTV is hoping to gain in terms of subscriber growth through this agreement.

“It is a tough thing to say in terms of [the number of subscribers] we expect,” Mercer said. “We generally don’t project what we think a market is going to do, but we obviously believe this has potential.”

(Robert Mercer, DirecTV, 310/726-4683)