Thomson Announces Contract With DIRECTV

(April 28, 2004) Paris, France and Nevada City, CA--Thomson has announced a contract from DIRECTV for its transmission products. DIRECTV is significantly expanding its use of Grass Valley-brand network technologies from Thomson to help its customers watch their local terrestrial broadcast channels via satellite. The new contract expands a similar agreement announced last spring. DIRECTV currently offers local channels in 64 markets nationwide and plans to offer local-channel service in a minimum of 130 markets by yearend.
"Having proven the strength of our encoding and networking technologies in our work with DIRECTV over the last year, we are excited to expand our long-standing relationship with the company to help bring the highest-quality programming to its customers," said Marc Valentin, president of Thomson Broadcast & Media Solutions. "This agreement is a great example of how Thomson is leveraging its technology portfolio and market strength to create continuing growth opportunities amid the transition to digital content creation, production, and distribution."
Thomson Grass Valley
www.thomsongrassvalley.com