Staff, wire reports

Convergys Corp. has signed a three-year contract extension to provide customer service for DirecTV, the satellite TV provider, through the end of 2006.

Financial terms weren't disclosed, but Convergys said the existing agreement was to expire this year. Convergys has provided customer care services to DirecTVsince it launched service in 1994.

More than 4,500 Convergys employees, or about 10 percent of its total employment of more than 48,000, work for DirecTV at several locations.

DirecTV has 11.5 million customers.

Cooper closing Cleveland plant

Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., the second- largest U.S. tire maker, plans to close a Cleveland automotive-plastics factory early next year and eliminate 115 jobs.

The shutdown will result in severance expenses of about $1.8 million, for which money has been set aside, the Findlay, Ohio-based company said in a U.S. filing. Cooper Tire also said it has set aside $800,000 to eliminate the final 22 positions of about 230 being cut in France, the U.K. and Brazil.