VLSI unveils Vista TV chips
By Reuters
January 16, 1998, 7:50 a.m. PT
LONDON--VLSI Technology (VLSI), announcing a new set of chips to power the digital television revolution, said yesterday that sales in Europe should hit between 1 and 1.5 million sets in 1998.
This would generate revenues of around $15 million, according to the company.
The "Vista" product line of chips, housed inside set-top box encoders on regular televisions, would capture signals from cable networks or satellites and process them onto digital television screens.
"The Vista product line forms a complete, customizable three-chip signal path for digital cable convertor systems. The new chip specifically targets the European market, where digital cable systems are set to come on stream rapidly in the 1998-1999 time frame," David Tahmassebi, VSLI product marketing manager, told a media briefing.
Technology consultant Dataquest reckons that digital television will reach more than 30 million homes around the world by 2001, up from 5 million in 1996. This will be provided by a mixture of satellite, cable, and terrestrial stations.
VLSI said that Europe will lead this charge with digital cable services in 1998 and 1999, followed by North America in 1999-2000.
Companies like Television par Satellite (TPS) and Canal Plus of France are already serving digital television subscribers. BSkyB, controlled by News Corporation, hopes to begin later this year. Thomson Multimedia, already supplying Canal Plus and TPS, Sony, and BSkyB's potential suppliers Pace Micro Technology and Philips Electronics.
In an interview with Reuters, Tahmassebi explained what the VLSI chips would do.
"Look inside the set-top box. You have three segments: the networking interface module, the system control module, and the audio-video module. The signal comes from the cable or from the satellite and is processed in the three sections before hitting the TV screen," Tahmassebi said.
The VLSI chips control these functions. The only other requirement is hardware for memory.
"We are offering capacity to set-top box makers. We are only a chip vendor--our business is chips, not boxes," he said.
Other rival chip makers in this field include SGS-Thomson Microelectronics and LSI Logic.
Answering questions after the presentation, Tahmassebi noted that with VLSI technology a set-top box should be available to consumers for under $250.
"I think we can hit those numbers and provide the low-cost set-top box," he added.
"VLSI should be able sell 1 to 1.5 million sets of chips as [digital TV] sales ramp up this year, and depending on [chip] configuration, that should be worth around $15 million," he said in the interview.
San Jose, California-based VLSI also makes chips for cellular phones, wireless infrastructure, and telecommunications devices.
For the first nine months of 1997, VLSI reported net income of $49.8 million on revenues of $519.8 million. For 1996, VLSI lost $49.5 million on sales of $716.8 million. |
