 Under government regulations, of the time, the Americans desperately needed a supportive British partner and Thomson had significant influence in Scotland as Roy Thomson had owned both The Scotsman newspaper since 1953 and Scottish Television from his early days in Britain.In 1972 the consortium was successful in its application for a North Sea license.These North Sea revenues enabled Thomson to further diversify into specialist and technical publishing in North America and acquire multiple companies during the 1970s and 1980s.