Broadcom Announces Cable Set-Top Box ICs with Integrated DVB-C Tuners

Innovative Technology Enables Cost Effective Solutions for China’s Growing Cable TV Market

BEIJING — CCBN 2009 — Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced two new cable set-top box (STB) system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions that address the growing demand for digital cable services in China.

These cable STB solutions feature the industry’s first integrated high performance DVB-C cable tuner developed in 65 nanometer (nm) technology, and with integrated advanced security and sophisticated power management, enable manufacturers to develop next generation, cost effective and power efficient STBs. For interactive applications, one solution – the BCM7003 – includes a 10/100 Fast Ethernet media access controller (MAC) that enables two-way interactive services such as video-on-demand (VoD), digital video recorder (DVR) functionality and Internet browsing. Broadcom’s new STB SoC solutions will be demonstrated at this week’s China Content Broadcasting Network (CCBN) Conference in Broadcom’s booth #3501.

According to In-Stat market research, the transition to digital cable TV in China entered its fifth phase in mid-2008 and continues to rapidly proceed in virtually all areas of the country. More than 37 million people subscribe to digital cable in China and more than 70 municipalities have completed their upgrade to digital services. With phenomenal growth (total STB shipments reached 11 million units by mid-2008 doubling 2007 shipments), new STB technology continues to be required for Chinese cable operators as they continue to upgrade their networks for two-way operation to enable the deployment of advanced services such as VoD, DVR and Internet browsing.

“With more than 150 cities throughout China working toward two-way network upgrades, the market potential is enormous for interactive services over cable,” said Michael Zhang, Analyst for In-Stat. “The number of Chinese digital cable subscribers is projected to reach 135 million by 2013 with set-top box revenue in China expected to peak at $1.3 billion (USD) in 2011.”

To meet this burgeoning market opportunity, the company announces the Broadcom® BCM7003 interactive two-way standard definition (SD) cable solution (with 10/100 Ethernet and USB 2.0 DVR functionality) and the Broadcom BCM7004 SD basic cable solution. Both single-chip solutions are targeted for the digital cable TV market in China, as well as supporting worldwide cable standards for the world’s set-top box markets including India, Europe, Latin America, South America and Asia. Both solutions include the industry’s first 65nm enhanced performance DVB-C tuner with a 64-1024 QAM demodulator, advanced security transport processor and MPEG-2 A/V decoder and graphics engine.

Both the BCM7003 and BCM7004 include proven advanced security capabilities and feature a toolkit of security components to meet a wide range of smart card-based and card-less conditional access system requirements. The chip solutions are permanently factory-programmed with a unique identification and security configuration where they can be managed and utilized as part of advanced security policies.

The new STB solutions also include advanced power management features that reduce power to less than one-tenth of a watt (0.1 watt) in standby mode while complying with energy-efficient standards including those outlined in the European Code of Conduct. The BCM7003 features USB connectivity, and in conjunction with Broadcom’s DVR software, enables cost effective DVR applications utilizing an external USB hard disk drive. The BCM7004 has the same features and functionality as the BCM7003 but does not include Ethernet and USB connectivity.

“We have developed the most integrated and cost effective solutions in support of China’s burgeoning digital cable market that is quickly migrating to two-way networking services and interactive applications,” said John Gleiter, Senior Director of Product Marketing for Broadcom’s Set-Top Box line of business. “Featuring Ethernet, USB 2.0 connectivity and an industry first integrated DVB-C tuner, our BCM7003 enables STB manufacturers and operators to realize the financial and user benefits of two-way network upgrades in China through the deployment of interactive services over cable.”

Technical Information

The BCM7003 and BCM7004 are the industry’s most highly integrated, low power cable STB receivers that combine the functionality of a complete cable tuner-to-NTSC/PAL (National Television Systems Committee/Phase Alternating Line) converter on a single chip design. Providing QAM signal decoding, the BCM7003 is targeted at standard definition cable interactive and USB 2.0 DVR applications, while the BCM7004 is targeted at basic standard definition cable applications.

Minimizing part count while providing ease of manufacturing, the BCM7003 and BCM7004 completely integrate the cable tuner, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital-to-analog converters (DACs) that simplify system design and cost, and have direct interfaces to other system components including serial Flash, push buttons and an infrared (IR) receiver.

Both the BCM7003 and BCM7004 include an MPEG-2 digital video broadcasting (DVB)-compliant transport processor with advanced section filtering, an MPEG-2 video decoder, a Dolby® AC3/MPEG-2 audio decoder, a pair of analog audio outputs and a single NTSC/PAL video encoder with analog output.

Availability and Pricing

The BCM7003 and BCM7004 cable STB receivers are now sampling to early access customers. Pricing is available upon request to set-top box manufacturers.