Thomson Reaches for the Sky

Thomson Multimedia Wednesday announced two-year agreements with Sky Mexico and Sky Brasil for the manufacture of digital set-tops for digital-satellite television in the two countries.

Sky Brasil -- a strategic alliance between News Corp., Organizacoes Globo and Liberty Media International Inc. -- is Latin America's largest digital direct-to-home television service, with more than 800,000 subscribers.

Sky Mexico -- the largest digital DTH television service in Mexico, with more than 900,000 subscribers -- is an alliance of News Corp., Grupo Televisa S.A. and LMI.

“These contracts solidify Thomson's worldwide leadership position in satellite decoders and are the latest development in a multiyear relationship with News Corp. companies that includes manufacturing agreements with BSkyB [British Sky Broadcasting Group plc], DirecTV [Inc.] and Sky Italia,” Thomson vice president, Americas Satellite Tim Saeger said in a prepared statement.