[TUNE $5] Microtune's 3-in-1 Tuner Featured in DTV Converter Box Certified by NTIADecember 13, 2007 10:00 AM ET advertisement
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All BusinessWire newsMicrotune(R), Inc. TUNE today announced that its 3-in-1 TV tuner was deployed in a digital television (DTV) converter set-top box approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for the $1 billion coupon-eligible converter box program (CECB) targeted to American consumers.
The recently certified set-top box contained the MicroTuner(TM) MT2131, the company's flagship high-performance, multi-standard miniature tuner chip. Certification is an essential step for customers in qualifying their digital-to-analog converter boxes for sale under the CECB initiative, and NTIA approval means that manufacturers can move their products into production for an early 2008 rollout.
"Microtune is the first silicon tuner company to have its product used in an NTIA-certified converter box," said James A. Fontaine, President and CEO of Microtune. "Our MicroTuner(TM) MT2131 is engineered to be a superior tuner that enhances the consumer TV viewing experience."
Microtune recently announced that it was making its test-verification facilities available to its converter box customers to confirm that their designs meet the tuner-related technical specifications dictated by the NTIA for the CECB program.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: U.S. DIGITAL CONVERTER SET-TOP BOX PROGRAM
The NTIA is the agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce that is charged with overseeing the consumer coupon program for digital-to-analog converter set-top boxes. This $1 billion program will subsidize the purchase of converter set-tops for consumers who wish to continue to use their analog TVs after February 2009, when U.S. analog broadcasts will be shut off. The converter box enables viewers to extend the life of current analog TV sets by ensuring that American households do not lose access to free, off-air broadcast television. The NTIA certification and approval process ensures that converter boxes meet feature and performance specifications, including the challenging tuner-related requirements.
CERTIFICATION AND APPROVAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
It is not unusual for Microtune to announce industry certifications of this kind, and the announcement of this certification/approval should not be viewed as an indicator of Microtune revenues for any current or future reporting period. The market for CECB converter boxes may not develop as currently expected by the NTIA or may develop more slowly than currently anticipated. Even in the event that the market does develop, there can be no assurance that Microtune's MT2131 will be selected by manufacturers or that if selected, such manufacturers will continue to select Microtune's products in the future to support their CECB set-top boxes.
ABOUT MICROTUNE
Microtune, Inc. is a silicon and subsystems company that designs and markets radio frequency (RF) solutions for the worldwide broadband communications and transportation electronics markets. Inventor of the MicroTuner(TM) single-chip broadband tuner, Microtune offers a portfolio of advanced tuner, amplifier, and upconverter products that enable the delivery of information and entertainment across new classes of consumer electronics devices. The Company currently holds 73 U.S. patents for its technology. Founded in 1996, Microtune is headquartered in Plano, Texas, with key design and sales centers located around the world. The website is www.microtune.com.
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