France Telecom, through its subsidiary France Cables et Radio, and Salt Lake City, Utah-based Keystone Communications Corp have announced an alliance for satellite video transmission, under the terms of which France Cables has taken a minority stake in Keystone. The amount of the investment was unavailable, and France Telecom would say only that the participation was minority but significant. Under the agreement, three France Telecom managers will sit on Keystone’s board. The alliance is intended to enable the companies to broaden out their offerings and to develop their positions in the Atlantic market. The France Telecom spokesman said it needed Keystone for an operational presence in the US video broadcast market, to complement its existing presence in the UK, via its Maxat subsidiary in London. Maxat has just won a contract to manage all of MTV’s broadcasting, while France Cables manages all satellite programming for USIA. Keystone, which was established in 1988, has installations in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as a co-operative agreement with Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co in Japan. It reported 1992 revenues of $26m. Keystone is owned by, among others, Bonneville Inc, which is described as the fifth largest media group in the US, and the Simmons family, which is prominent in banking and media circles.
