The delivery channels for digital TV broadcasting have
been diversified: terrestrial, cable, satellite, beyond 3G
cellular band and now over the internet. On the physical
dimension, popularity of larger screen flat TV’s is rapidly
growing, while mobile TV technology brought TV viewing
to cell phones with QVGA screens. The flexibility of when
to watch programs has been greatly enhanced by Personal
Video Recorder (PVR) technology and set-top boxes with
push technology services. And new IPTV VOD services
offer more flexibility to consumers when and what to
watch. Large screen flat TV’s are also used for Home
Theater environments with full HD contents from discs.
All these developments have occurred within just a few
years, and the task of developing System-on-Chip (SoC)
solutions for the various future applications are very
challenging. This paper explores strategic considerations
chip developers have to employ to create competitive
Digital TV SoC technology and products.