Thomson Signs Purchase Agreement with Comcast for Digital-to-Analog Adapters

PARIS and LOS ANGELES, CA — Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS), the worldwide leader in video solutions, today announced that it has entered into a purchase agreement with Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), the leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services in the U.S., to be a supplier of digital-to-analog (DTA) adapters.

The DTA adapter is a one-way device that enables cable operators to move quickly and cost-efficiently to all-digital infrastructures by delivering digital-quality video and audio service to existing analog cable customers. In addition, following the February 17, 2009 broadcast digital transition, cable operators will provide analog, standard- and high-definition digital broadcast signals to their customers. The DTA adapter is one of the ways cable providers will be able to deliver analog and standard-definition broadcast signals following that transition.

“Thomson is pleased to enter the U.S. cable video market and expand our relationship with Comcast by becoming a supplier of DTA adapters,” said Frederic Kurkjian, Vice President Video Premises Systems for Thomson’s Systems Division. “The experience on this project will be invaluable for us as the world prepares to follow suit and migrate from analog to digital.”

Thomson is the worldwide leader in units for the supply of digital Pay TV set top boxes as reported by industry analysts IMS Research in Nov 2007[1] and in residential broadband gateways according to the last quarterly report entitled the Worldwide Broadband CPE Market published by Infonetics Research in Jan 2008.

[1] “The Worldwide Market for Digital Set-Top Boxes and iDTV”, Nov. 2007, P. 568