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Korea Times via NewsEdge Corporation :

Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America and Sharp Corp. of Japan have signed agreements to license Zenith Electronics’ digital television reception technology, LG Electronics said Tuesday.

The latest agreement by Zenith, a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of LG Electronics, follows a license agreement with Toshiba America last year.

Under the contract, Sharp and Mitsubishi become the latest in a growing list of companies to license Zenith’s eight-level Vestigial Side Band (8-VSB) digital television reception technology. Some 10 electronics makers worldwide, including LG Electronics, have licensed Zenith’s 8-VSB technology so far.

They did not disclose any financial details of the deal.

VSB is a terrestrial digital television signal reception format that has been adopted for high-definition digital TV broadcasting by the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and South Korea among others. The VSB chip plays the role of the brain in digital TVs like the central processing unit of personal computers.

“Zenith is currently in talks with some 300 digital TV, set-top box and broadcasting equipment makers worldwide, including Samsung Electronics, for the 8-VSB technology license agreement,” said Kim Gyeong-whan, assistant manager of LG Electronics.

“We expect annual revenue from royalty payments for the 8-VSB licenses to reach $100 million within several years,” Kim said.

Zenith developed the 8-VSB digital transmission system at the heart of the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) digital TV Standard adopted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The company holds numerous patents essential to the operation of over-the-air terrestrial digital television receivers compliant with the ATSC digital TV standard.

New FCC regulations that took effect last summer will require DTV tuners with 8-VSB demodulators in virtually all TVs sold over the next three years.

The phased-in “FCC Digital TV Tuner Mandate” that went into effect on July 1, 2004, requires embedded 8-VSB tuners in 50 percent of 36-inch and larger digital TV sets sold in the U.S.

To be effective as of July 1, 2005, 100 percent of 36-inch and larger sets, and 50 percent of 25- to 35-inch sets, sold in the U.S will be required to incorporate 8-VSB demodulators. The rule will apply to all TVs 13 inches and larger in 2007.

Zenith, founded in 1918, has been a wholly owned subsidiary of LG Electronics since 1999.

In February last year, LG Electronics developed a VSB chip that enables a digital TV set to receive both terrestrial and cable digital-TV broadcasting services with a single receiver chip. Terrestrial digital broadcasting is based on VSB technology whereas digital cable broadcasting is based on quadrature amplitude modulation.