Thomson signed agreement with EchoStar to build satellite receive...
Thomson signed agreement with EchoStar to build satellite receivers for its Dish Network. Pact, which was being negotiated before EchoStar’s proposed $26 billion bid for Hughes Electronics and DirecTV subsidiary, calls for production to start at Thomson’s Juarez, Mexico,…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
factory by midyear. Under agreement, Thomson will build receivers for EchoStar’s current line and start development of products that presumably will be compatible with both Dish Network and DirecTV. Thomson and EchoStar officials declined comment on specific product plans, but EchoStar developed model 301 receiver with plan to add DirecTV service should proposed acquisition be completed. “We plan to roll out these products [which can receive Dish and DirecTV] before the merger is approved so there is no need to go back to the consumer’s house,” EchoStar CEO Charles Ergen said. “Until the merger is approved we will both be only able to control our own subscribers.” Officials of DirecTV, which has battled EchoStar at retail for 6 years, weren’t available for comment, but Thomson spokesman DirecTV was “aware” of its discussions with EchoStar. “We want to be in a position where we can be a set-top box supplier to any number of companies,” he said.