GERMAN web television company Metabox AG said at the weekend that it has expanded into its first foreign market by signing a distribution deal for South Africa with Eagle International Ltd. Shares in Metabox, which manufactures set-top boxes that provide internet access on TV sets, surged more than 16% on the news of the company’s first sales agreement abroad. Eagle plans to develop a South African web-TV service together with domestic internet service providers, and has agreed to buy at least 16000 more set-top boxes from Metabox in 2000.