NxtWave, Zenith Partner to Develop Next-Generation Digital Television Technology

Unique Approach Means Backwards Compatibility, No Additional RoyaltiesSept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- In a unique collaboration involving two leading innovators in digital television (DTV), Zenith Electronics Corporation and NxtWave Communications Inc. have finalized their agreement to jointly develop compatible enhancements to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) DTV standard, the companies announced today.

NxtWave and Zenith, which previously had responded separately to the ATSC's "VSB Enhancements" Request for Proposals (RFP), now have merged their technologies into a single best-of-the-best system that exceeds the requirements of the ATSC RFP aimed at broadening the DTV standard's transmission and reception capabilities.

Specifically, the joint system combines NxtWave's error-correction coding and pre-coder solution with Zenith's dataframe mapping, interleaving and packing algorithm. The result is a multi-rate modulation method that further enhances DTV reception while having no negative impact on any existing ATSC receivers already deployed. This back-wards compatibility is critical, and no other proposed enhancement can make this claim.

New receivers with Zenith-NxtWave technology will be able to decode the standard 8-VSB and the more robust enhanced signal with improved multipath performance for both, as well as better signal acquisition and significantly improved "white noise" performance for enhanced programs and data.

"NxtWave and Zenith are innovative technical leaders who continue to demonstrate their commitment to the digital television market with significant investments in new products and new technology," said NxtWave CEO Matt Miller. "Our proposed enhancements are designed to meet the changing needs of consumers, broadcasters, manufacturers and other industry participants. We look forward to rapid industry adoption and widespread deployment of NxtWave-Zenith technology and related chip technologies."

Zenith Senior Vice President Richard Lewis said, "By joining forces with a company of NxtWave's caliber, we have developed a unified, technically advanced proposal that further enhances DTV reception for indoor, portable and pedestrian applications. The Zenith-NxtWave system builds on the performance, flexibility and expandability of the ATSC DTV Standard to achieve an even higher level of performance that will benefit viewers and broadcasters alike.

"For manufacturers, our joint solution will mean continued one-stop shopping for VSB licensing," Lewis said. Under its agreement with NxtWave, Zenith will license related intellectual property of both companies -- without any increase in royalty rate.

NxtWave and Zenith have formally submitted their joint proposal to the ATSC technical committee charged with exploring possible DTV reception enhancements. Industry testing already has successfully proven backwards compatibility between the Zenith-NxtWave technology and a large number of existing ATSC receivers. Comprehensive industry testing, using prototype Zenith-NxtWave transmission and reception equipment now being constructed, is planned for this fall.

Zenith and NxtWave bring considerable and complementary assets to this joint development effort:

• A founding member of the Digital HDTV Grand Alliance, Zenith created the Vestigial Sideband (VSB) modulation technology upon which the U.S. standard is based. Earlier this year, the company demonstrated its "Enhanced VSB" (E-VSB) technology, which adds a second, even more robust data stream to over-the-air digital TV broadcasts for improved reception by simple indoor antennas as well as portable and pedestrian DTV services. This innovative approach has now been married with NxtWave's powerful error-correction coding technology.



• A major force in broadband communications technology, NxtWave is an industry-leading developer of world-class integrated circuits (ICs) not only for VSB-based systems but also for other transmission formats. NxtWave's blind adaptive equalization and forward error correction schemes, along with its proprietary digital signal processing technologies, allow manufacturers to get to market quickly with feature-rich, commercially viable products.

Implementation of digital television broadcasting in the United States is already well underway. More than 200 stations -- including the vast majority of those in the 30 largest media markets -- are currently offering digital TV programming to 70 percent of all U.S. television households, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) estimates. According to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), 1.1 million digital television receivers and related DTV products will be sold this year, with the figure predicted to reach 10.5 million units annually in 2006.

Tests conducted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the nation's leading broadcast trade associations have validated the robustness of the VSB-based digital television standard and have reconfirmed its clear superiority for terrestrial DTV. Now, the enhancements resulting from the Zenith-NxtWave alliance will further expand DTV's capabilities without requiring changes to the FCC's transmission standard.

About NxtWave Communications
NxtWave Communications Inc. of Langhorne, Pa., is a privately held digital broadband communications company. Using efficient and robust modulation and demodulation techniques, the company's integrated circuit solutions satisfy the requirements of manufacturers of digital set-top boxes, digital TVs, PC TVs, and other broadband appliances. NxtWave Communications leverages proprietary algorithms in its receiver implementations of industry standard transmission formats including QAM, VSB and COFDM. For additional information visit nxtwavecomm.com .

About Zenith
Zenith Electronics Corporation, based in Lincolnshire, Ill., is a long- time leader in consumer electronics and primary developer of digital high- definition television (HDTV) technology. Zenith developed the FCC-adopted VSB digital transmission system, which is the centerpiece of the U.S. ATSC DTV standard. To assist broadcasters in the rollout of digital television service, Zenith offers a full line of digital broadcast products, including ATSC modulators, demodulators, translators and receivers. Zenith is a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Electronics Inc. Visit Zenith on the World Wide Web at www.zenith.com .

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SOURCE Zenith Electronics Corporation