NTV-Plus Picks Thomson

PARIS -- Thomson (Euronext Paris; NYSE: TMS) announced it has been chosen by leading Russian Pay-TV Operator, NTV-Plus, for the rollout of a new High Definition (HD) TV set-top box. Underscoring Thomson's leadership in helping operators worldwide transition to HD, including in new and fast-growing markets, the HD set-top box has been deployed to support Russia's first high-definition TV service by NTV-Plus launched at the end of June this year.

"We see our company as both creative and innovative," said Dmitry Samokhin, CEO of NTV-Plus. "We aim to provide our customers the best possible offer in terms of content and quality. We are the first in the Russian pay-TV market to launch HDTV, and we are sure that our viewers will appreciate the benefits of HDTV format."

"High definition TV is key to the future success of both Thomson and our customers" said Frédéric Kurkjian, Vice President, Worldwide Cable and Satellite Europe, Premises Systems, Thomson. "With high-definition services and products spanning the entire service chain from content creation through broadcast to the customer, Thomson is uniquely positioned to play a key role in the media industry's transition to HDTV and HD movies. Thomson's HD platforms are designed to help broadcasters and operators' best exploit the opportunities that developments such as HDTV offer."

NTV-Plus is Russia's first commercial pay-TV operator, broadcasting services by satellite across all of European Russia and the Ukraine and has launched Russia's first HD services with three channels. The NTV-Plus platform serves 560,000 homes, covers more than 1.5 million viewers, and offers a programming bouquet of more than 100 Russian and international channels.

The Thomson set-top boxes will help NTV-Plus' objective of capturing between 10,000 and 20,000 HD subscribers by the end of this year, taking advantage of the rapid take-up in Russia of HD-Ready flat-screen displays since 2005 and particular interest. in HD sports events in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The broadcaster has invested $3.5 million in new production and broadcast equipment to support this new phase of expansion.

Thomson S.A. (NYSE: TMS; Euronext Paris: 18453)