After struggling for years to meld its software into television sets, Microsoft might finally be getting somewhere.
The disclosure Wednesday that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates personally holds a 7% stake in Grupo Televisa, Mexico's No. 1 media group, coincides with big cable TV wins Microsoft has scored south of the border.
Earlier this month in Mexico City, a subsidiary of Grupo Televisa completed the first large deployment of Microsoft's channel guide for cable TV. And later this year, cable companies Cablevision Monterey, Megacable, PCTV and Cabletica will do similar deployments in Mexico and Costa Rica.
The Mexico City rollout by Cablevision Mexico, went "extremely smoothly," says Ed Graczyk, Microsoft TV director of marketing. "We flipped the switch and enabled 70,000 homes overnight."
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