Broadcom Bows DTV Chipset

IRVINE, Calif. -- Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced a complete digital television receiver system targeted at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA's) digital-to-analog converter box program. The program, which is part of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initiative, includes a budget of $1.5 billion that will be used to assist U.S. households in making an affordable transition from existing analog televisions to digital by providing coupons to households to defray the cost of digital TV converter boxes. Broadcom has introduced a turnkey digital television-on-chip (TVoC) and associated software to enable these digital-to-analog converter boxes, extending the lives of analog-only TVs.

As written in the Department of Commerce's Federal Register, dated March 15, 2007, the Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 (the Act) directs the FCC to require full-power television stations to cease analog broadcasting and to only broadcast digital transmissions after February 17, 2009. As a result, televisions that receive over-the-air broadcasts through rabbit ear antennas will no longer work after February 17, 2009. At that point, the analog television spectrum will be freed up for public safety initiatives and will be auctioned off by the U.S. government for such applications as wireless networking.

For those consumers who want to continue receiving broadcast programming over-the-air using analog-only televisions not connected to cable or satellite service, a small digital-to-analog converter box will be required. These converter boxes are expected to be available in early 2008, at which time the NTIA has been authorized to create a digital-to-analog converter box assistance program for eligible households. As a result, the NTIA will provide two $40 discount coupons per household that consumers can redeem directly from retailers for these NTIA-qualified digital converter boxes. There is a total of 33.5 million coupons budgeted for the program, which begins January 1, 2008 and concludes on March 31, 2009.

Announced today is the Broadcom(R) BCM3543 ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) receiver designed to receive ATSC high definition television (HDTV) broadcasts and convert them to NTSC (National Television Systems Committee) signals. Utilizing 65 nanometer process technology, the BCM3543 is a highly integrated, low power digital TVoC receiver that provides superior ATSC signal reception targeted at the NTIA's coupon-eligible "analog switch-off" converter box program. The BCM3543 features on-chip support to convert all ATSC standard and high definition inputs to 480i output formats for display on analog TVs.

"Broadcom is very excited to support the transition from analog-to-digital broadcasting by enabling our OEM partners to produce and quickly deliver digital-to-analog converter boxes as part of the NTIA coupon program," said Dan Marotta, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom's Broadband Communications Business Group. "With the introduction of the BCM3543 ATSC receiver, Broadcom continues its leadership in the digital television market and demonstrates its ability to efficiently integrate a wide variety of technologies required to meet the demands of the market."

Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM)