After years of providing satellite and cable installation service along with retail TV and audio supplies, Curtis Sorenson — owner of Direct Communications in Austin, Rochester and Decorah — will take on a different venture.

However, Sorenson said people need not worry about their television service, as corporate DirecTV still takes care of all of his former customers. Their service will not change.

“I appreciate the business that I have gotten in the past locally,” Sorenson said. “I appreciate the customers that I have dealt with. They don’t need to worry. They still have corporate DirecTV that will back them up.”

Sorenson closed his Austin location at 401 First Ave. SW on Nov. 1, which is currently available for lease, and has liquidated most of his assets in both Minnesota locations, including tools, a van and retail merchandise. Because of a Minnesota law that requires satellite installers to have a license, Sorenson said it was easier to sell his assets than wait for someone with a license to come in.

In Decorah, however, Sorenson hopes to sell his store before the end of the year.

The economy, however, isn’t what drove Sorenson’s decision. Sorenson said after 12 years in the satellite and cable market, he was ready for a change. Sorenson’s father needed a year-round worker on the family farm near Oakland, Minn., as it is very busy.

“He’s the hardest working man I know,” Sorenson said.

And Sorenson was ready to ease back into a routine he is familiar with.

“I appreciate the simplicity of it, not that farming is simple,” Sorenson said. “It’s the same fields, back and forth, every year. It’s the routine.”