谁在主宰未来移动电视市场的宿命？

我们大家可能都搞错了…移动电视(Mobile TV)其实不关手机的事，它意味着将电视接收器放进汽车、多媒体平板装置甚至是家用电视(home TVs)等等现有的、或是即将问世的产品中。 以色列数字移动电视接收器芯片供货商 Siano Mobile Silicon日前宣布，该公司取得了一家德国汽车大厂的设计案，这家车厂将推出配备Hirschmann Car Communication 最新车用电视接收系统的新车款，该电视接收系统就是采用 Siano 芯片。 Siano 执行长Alon Ironi 最近接受EETimes美国版电话采访时，仍对全球移动电视市场前景充满信心；该公司的接收器芯片可支持不同区域的各种数字电视标准，包括欧洲与澳洲的 DVB-T 、中国的 CMMB，以及日本与南美洲的 ISDB-T 。 而且Siano 很显然正在将市场触角伸向手机以外的领域，该公司积极将芯片推广至汽车(例如上述的设计案)应用领域，以及巴西等新兴市场的家用数字电视市场。对多重标准与多重市场的支持，成为羽翼未丰之移动电视芯片供货商的关键策略，同时也攸关其生存。 让我们面对现实：曾被视为手机领域“下一个大事件”的移动电视，似乎已经逐渐淡化──至少在美国，高通(Qualcomm)在去年秋天结束 FLO TV 营运，此外当地的ATSC移动广播也尚未起飞──这只是我的个人想象还是残酷的现实？以下还有一些信息能有助于厘清现状。 在7月初，市场对曾经风光过的手机用移动电视接收器芯片供货商泰景信息科技(Telegent Systems)之未来，开始出现许多质疑(该公司在中国拥有庞大的工程团队)；所有人都在问，手机移动电视热潮是否已经走到了自生自灭的地步，甚至在中国也一样。 业界消息来源坚称，中国移动电视市场仍然存在且发展良好，特别是中国官方的国家广电总局(SARFT)所支持的CMMB标准产品。然而，在模拟电视接收器芯片需求已经衰退的情况下，泰景信息科技目前的处境，是必须在竞争激烈的中国市场应付产品价格大幅衰退的问题。 于是在7月下旬，总部位于上海的无圆厂基频与RF芯片设计业者展讯通信(Spreadtrum Communications)宣布收购泰景信息；当时并未透露收购金额，但稍后该公司总裁暨执行长李力游(Leo Li)在第二季财报发布会上对分析师表示，收购金额是100万美元。 而在展讯宣布收购泰景信息后不到十天，一家法国公司Parrot宣布收购移动芯片供货商DiBcom；Parrot是汽、机车免手动(hands-free)无线系统开发商，该公司打算将DiBcom在多标准数字广播与电视方面的专长，以及广泛的客户基础，推向汽车领域。 根据Parrot在7月28日发布的新闻稿，该公司是以1,590万欧元收购DiBcom的股本(share capital)，以及价值约1,200万欧元的净债务购回(net debt buyback，一开始主要是可转换债券)。总括来说，这样的价码说明了一切。 本文下一页：各家的如意算盘

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{pagination} 在2007年7月(当时DiBcom刚发起E系列募资)，有总额约6,000万欧元(约8,000万美元)的资金涌入DiBcom；但现在Parrot的收购价格意味着DiBcom已经走上穷途末路，该公司的投资者显然已经很不耐烦。 Parrot表示，DiBcom的 2011年营收估计为1,500万欧元，毛利率约45%，税前利润(EBIT)为-400万欧元；目前DiBcom约有90名员工，其中五成是R&D，该公司在欧洲与亚洲等地亦设有营运据点。 在上个月接连 发生的、泰景信息与DiBcom的大贱卖，显然无法激起太多市场对移动电视的信心；接下来，Siano宣布进军汽车市场。回想DiBcom的崛起，就是因为赢得车用电视接收系统的设计案(新东家也是想把它的技术用在汽车市场)；一切都连起来了。 但对笔者来说更感到惊讶的是，根据Ironi的说法，Siano现在也跨足了巴西的家用数字电视机顶盒市场，当地是采用日本的ISDB-T广播标准；为了迎接2014年将在巴西举行的世界杯足球赛(World Cup)，拉丁美洲正如火如荼地进行电视讯号数字化。 虽然日本芯片厂商如瑞萨电子(Renesas Electronics)，已经可以供应整合ISDB-T解调器(demodulator)的数字电视SoC；但Ironi却声称，巴西是一个新兴市场，能为不同价位的产品提供庞大商机。 此外Siano也将生意触角伸向新崛起的北美ATSC移动电视市场；虽然Ironi坦承，刚起步的美国移动电视市场“有风险”，但他也认为该市场有潜力获得美国电视广播业者的推动。但被问到该市场有没有机会变大时，Ironi仅表示，他的公司正在投资该领域。 事实上，Siano在5月从Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP)换取了2,000万美元的扩大资本融资(expansion capital financing)，就是投资ATSC移动电视市场。目前Siano声称在中国与拉丁美洲的移动数字电视接收装置芯片组市场，拥有五成的市占率。 综观这个仍在起步阶段的移动电视市场，因为其地域广泛、不同国家的法规与商业发展时间又不同步，这些因素足以耗尽任何一家移动电视芯片业者的精力。 Siano目前拥有发起4轮募资之后取得的9,600万美元资金，以及最近一次从JVP取得的2,000万美元；不过，一旦这家公司得涉足不同地理区域市场，以及各种应用产品(包括手机、汽车、家用数字电视)，它的未来命运还有待观察。 编译：Judith Cheng 本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文： Connecting the dots in mobile TV: Siano…DiBcom…Telegent，by Junko Yoshida

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• 创毅视讯与思亚诺达成和解，携手共促CMMB市场繁荣发展Dqsesmc

{pagination} Connecting the dots in mobile TV: Siano…DiBcom…Telegent Junko Yoshida NEW YORK – We might have gotten this wrong all along. Mobile TV, after all, isn’t really about mobile phones. It’s about TV receivers that go into automobiles, media tablets, even home TVs and any other existing or yet-to-emerge products. Siano Mobile Silicon, a Netanya, Israel-based supplier of mobile digital TV receiver chips, is announcing Monday (Aug. 8th) a design win with a major German automobile manufacturer who is rolling out new models equipped with Hirschmann Car Communication GmbH (HCC)’s latest automotive TV reception system -- powered by Siano. During EE Times’ recent phone conversation with Alon Ironi, CEO of Siano, it was clear that Ironi still remains very committed to the mobile TV market the world over. Siano receiver chips are designed to cover various digital TV standards in different regions worldwide – DVB-T for Europe and Australia, CMMB for China. The same architecture supports ISDB-T for Japan and South America. It’s even clearer that Siano is expanding its market well beyond mobile handsets. The company is pushing its chips in automotive (as seen in the latest announcement) as well as home digital TV markets in countries like Brazil. Pursuing multi-standards and multi-markets is becoming a key strategy for fledgling mobile TV chip companies, as a matter of their survival. Let’s face it. Mobile TV, once viewed as “the next big thing” for mobile phones, seems to have faded into obscurity – at least in the United States, where Qualcomm shut down its FLO TV operations last fall, and where the ATSC mobile broadcast has yet to take off. Is it just my imagination or is it a fact? Here are some data points that serve to clarify the situation. Early July, a rumor started about the uncertain future of Telegent Systems Inc., once a high-flying startup of mobile TV receiver chips for cell phones (with a large engineering team in China). The obvious first question everyone asked was whether the initial enthusiasm for mobile TV on cell phones has already run its course, even in China. Evidently, not quite. Sources insist that the Chinese mobile TV market is still alive and well, especially products based on the China Multimedia Mobile Broadcasting (CMMB) standard backed by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). The demand for analog TV receivers, however, has been waning. Telegent’s struggle had much to do with the spectacular price slippage in a very competitive Chinese market. Then, Spreadtrum Communications, Shanghai-based fabless developer of baseband and RF chips for wireless communications market, announced on July 19th that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Telegent. How the deal is structured and how much Spreadtrum actually paid for Telegent was not disclosed at the time of the announcement. But later, Leo Li, chairman, president and CEO of Spreadtrum, speaking on a telephone conference call with analysts to discuss the company's second quarter financial results, has paid $1 million to acquire Telegent. Then, less than 10 days later of the Spreadtrum/Telegent announcement, Paris-based firm called Parrot said that it is buying DiBcom, a leading mobile TV chip vendor based in Palaiseau, the suburbs of Paris. Parrot, focused on the development of hands-free wireless systems for cars, motorbikes and scooters, is said to be interested in using DiBcom’s expertise in the multi-standard digital radio and television field – and its broader customer base – in the automotive sector. The Parrot/DiBcom transaction, according to Parrot’s announcement on July 28th, consists of 15.9 million euro to purchase share capital and a net debt buyback (initially mainly convertible bonds) for approximately 12 million euro. That price tag, in a nutshell, tells the whole story. Fire sales Considering the total of 60 million euro (approximately $80 million) that had already poured into DiBcom by July, 2007 (that’s when DiBcom raised its series E funding), that 15.9 million-euro purchase price hints at desperation. DiBcom’s investors must have been getting pretty impatient. According to Parrot, “DiBcom, in 2011, is forecasting around15 million euro in revenues, with a gross margin of approximately 45% and ¬- 4 million euro in EBIT. DiBcom has around 90 employees, with 50% in R&D, and offices in Europe and Asia. Clearly, the fire sales at Telegent and DiBcom, in quick succession last month, won’t inspire much confidence in mobile TV. Then, comes Siano’s automotive announcement. Considering that DiBcom got its business off the ground by getting design wins in TV reception systems on the automotive market (and now that DiBcom’s new owner is interested in using DiBcom’s technology back in the automotive market), the story seems to be coming full-circle. But more surprising to me was, according to Ironi, Siano is now getting its chip designed into home digital TV set-tops in Brazil, which adopted Japan’s ISDB-T broadcast standard. Leading up to the World Cup scheduled in Brazil in 2014, Latin America is transitioning to digital – big time. Keep in mind that there are Japanese chip companies like Renesas Electronics offering digital TV SoCs integrated with ISDB-T demodulator. But Ironi claims that Brazil is a growing market that offers big opportunities for products at different price ranges. Siano is also expanding its business in the emerging North American mobile ATSC (Advanced Televsion Systems Committee) market. While Ironi acknowledges that the emerging U.S. mobile TV broadcast market is “a risk,” he also sees potential in U.S. TV broadcasters’ push for it. Asked if it is going to be a huge market, Ironi simply said his company is investing in it. In fact, Siano, in exchange for $20 million in expansion capital financing from Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) in May, is investing in the mobile ATSC market. Siano today claims that it holds an approximately 50% market share in China and Latin America for chipsets that allow the reception of digital TV on mobile, portable and hand-held devices. Keeping up with the fledgling mobile-TV broadcast markets, whose geographies are spread wide and whose regulations and commercial development come with varied timing, is enough to drain any mobile-TV chip companies. Siano has thus far raised $96 million, including four rounds of funding and the most recent $20m from JVP. At a time that when the company has to go after so many different geographical markets and product segments (cell phones, automotive and digital home TVs), Siano’s future is still a vision that remains to be seen.