Multiband Corporation, a home service provider (HSP) for DIRECTV and one of the nation's largest DIRECTV master system operator (MSO) for multiple dwelling units (MDUs), has extended its HSP contract with DIRECTV for four years beginning Oct. 1, 2010 through Oct. 1, 2014.

Officials with Multiband Corporation said that the new contract extends the existing agreement and will reduce the quarterly non-cash amortization charge the company takes each quarter to $860k from the approximate current charges of $1.2 million per quarter.

Company officials also announced that on July 1, 2010, in partnership with DIRECTV, it launched a nationwide platform to target commercial businesses such as bars and restaurants to install and service DIRECTV.

The initial market for rolling out the commercial platform is the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota area.

"Our strong and mutually beneficial relationship with DIRECTV has resulted in the extension of our Home Service Provider contract with them and reflects their confidence in our ability to deliver high quality installations, effective resolution of customer issues and quick response to customer calls to maintain significant uptime,” said James L. Mandel, chief executive officer of Multiband Corporation, in a statement.

Mandel said that DIRECTV has demonstrated additional confidence in Multiband by partnering with the company in this new initiative, which broadens the company’s scope beyond the original platform to target bars, restaurants and other commercial sites.

He said that the company has created a sales team of call agents to service this new platform.