Tata Sky partners with Thomson

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
The Tata Sky Ltd, the joint venture between the Tata group and Star, announced on Thursday their partnership with Thomson, the set-top box technology major, to support the launch of its direct-tohome (DTH) service in mid 2006. Thomson, will manufacture set-top boxes in India and provide a countrywide after-sales service and support network for Tata Sky customers. Tata Sky is investing in building a high quality digital infrastructure in the country and hopes to offer a superior television viewing experience to Indian households.

Vikram Kaushik, chief executive officer, Tata Sky, said, "Selecting Thomson as a preferred partner gives us proven high quality customer premises equipment, through which we can deliver our programming and associated interactive services. This agreement is an endorsement of our commitment to provide state-of-theart DTH services in India and offer customers with the best satellite TV services available."

The agreement with Tata Sky marks Thomson's entry into the DTH Satellite television market with set-top boxes developed for Tata Sky.

Thomson senior vice president satellite, terrestrial and cable business unit Koen van Driel said, "As the largest and most exciting new DTH TV project in the world, we are very proud to have been selected as a key supplier by Tata Sky. In choosing Thomson, Tata Sky has demonstrated its confidence in the high quality of our set-top box products, our ability to deliver a customised product in a relatively short time frame, and our global development and support network."