PLANO, Texas -- Microtune®, Inc. (NASDAQ: TUNE - News) and Auvitek International Ltd., today unveiled their collaboration in delivering a complete solution that significantly accelerates the time-to-market and time-to-certification for manufacturers targeting the U.S. government’s coupon-eligible DTV converter box program. Based on Microtune’s MicroTuner™ MT2131 high-performance tuner chip and Auvitek’s AU8515 ATSC demodulation and channel-decoding IC, the manufacturing-ready system solution has been implemented in two Sansonic DTV converter boxes (models FT-300A and FT-300RT) that have achieved certification from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The performance and quality of these NTIA-certified set-tops will be demonstrated at Auvitek's suite (number 2165) in the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel during the CES show in Las Vegas, NV, January 7-10, 2008.

Inventor of the single-chip silicon TV tuner, Microtune is a market leader in radio frequency (RF) silicon and systems products for the consumer electronics and automotive electronics markets. Auvitek is a fabless semiconductor company that develops demodulator integrated circuits (ICs) for the worldwide digital television and multimedia convergence markets. Together the Microtune TV tuner and Auvitek demodulator ICs comprise the sophisticated electronics ‘heart’ of the DTV converter set-top box solution.

Designed to meet the strict technical requirements dictated by the NTIA for set-tops eligible under the government’s coupon-eligible program, the Microtune-Auvitek system solution is also engineered to deliver superior, stable TV pictures and sound.

“The underlying RF and demodulation/channel-decode technologies are the determining factors in the capability of a DTV converter set-top box to receive, under a diverse range of conditions, all broadcast TV signals cleanly and reliably,” said Pete Birch, Chief Executive Officer, Auvitek International Ltd. “Based on our proprietary and patent-pending FADETM architecture, Auvitek’s DTV demodulator ICs, combined with the sophisticated high-performance TV tuner of Microtune, ensure the absolute best possible reception of digital television signals. Together, we enable digital TV converter set-tops to receive more channels, more consistently and more often for an excellent user experience. We will be demonstrating that performance and quality edge with our set-top models in our booth at CES.”

Microtune Inc. (Nasdaq: TUNE)