Broadcom Tunes In to Cable TV

IRVINE, Calif. -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM - News), the leading provider of silicon solutions enabling broadband communications, today announced a next-generation silicon tuner solution that allows manufacturers to implement cost effective single and multiple tuner designs in cable modems, cable set-top boxes, residential gateways, cable- ready televisions and personal video recording (PVR) devices. Broadcom's new silicon tuner solution includes the Broadcom® BCM3405, the industry's first single-chip multi-channel low noise amplifier (LNA) supporting up to five radio frequency (RF) signals, and the BCM3418, Broadcom's newest CMOS silicon tuner supporting both analog NTSC/PAL and digital Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) signals. The combination of the BCM3405 and BCM3418 significantly reduces the design complexity and cost of multi-tuner applications by eliminating major components required to distribute signals inside these products.

Consumer demand for devices incorporating multi-tuner applications, such as PVR with watch-and-record capability, digital televisions with picture-in- picture (PiP), and set-top boxes with integrated broadband modems, continues to increase. "The wide availability of lower cost solutions will help drive the market for multi-tuner applications, which we believe has the potential to reach significant worldwide volumes over the next three years," said Daniel Marotta, Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Business Unit.

"Even though the market demand for multi-tuner products has grown steadily over the last two to three years, there are still significant technical challenges and costs associated with designing the tuner sections in these products," said Marotta. "Through advanced silicon integration, we are delivering a solution that lowers the cost and accelerates the time to market of multi-tuner products."

The BCM3405 is a highly integrated, multi-channel LNA designed to substantially reduce the complexity and cost of multi-tuner designs found in cable set-top boxes, residential gateways and personal video recorders. The BCM3405 supports three in-band channels, one out-of-band channel and one bypass channel. The BCM3405, in combination with the BCM3418, meets the RF requirements of the OpenCable(TM) specification. The BCM3405 also creates the opportunity for Broadcom to supply technology into multi-tuner applications, such as advanced cable set-top boxes with PVR functionality and cable-ready televisions supporting advanced features such as PiP.

The BCM3418 is the industry's first CMOS tuner to support both the analog and digital transmissions used in cable plants. The BCM3418 supports both standard and high-definition television, as well as advanced orders of QAM used by many of Broadcom's products. The advanced capabilities in the BCM3418 result in improved product performance and reliability and fewer system support components. The BCM3418 allows customers to improve the bill of materials (BOM) cost of existing cable modem and set-top box designs, and more importantly, it expands Broadcom's opportunity to supply tuners to the analog and terrestrial digital broadcast television markets.

"Both of these new Broadcom tuner products use technology that is not subject to the injunction issued by a court earlier this year against our prior generation of silicon tuner products," said Marotta.

Availability

Samples of the BCM3405 and BCM3418 are available now. The BCM3405 is priced at $10.00 in 10,000 piece quantities. The BCM3418 chip is priced at $5.00 in 25,000 piece quantities. Each chip is packaged in a 48-pin TQFP.

Broadcom Corp.