Imagination Technologies Licenses Mobile TV IP to Mavrix

U.K.-based system-on-chip (SoC) technology provider Imagination Technologies Group plc. has licensed its mobile TV IP platform to Mavrix Technology Inc. for use within certain mobile TV standards. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Newport Beach, Calif.-based Mavrix is a fabless semiconductor company that is developing a complete SoC solution for the mobile digital TV (MDTV) market. Mavrix also has a subsidiary in Shanghai.
 
"An efficient, low-power SoC device is key for companies expecting to succeed as the mobile TV market develops," David McBrien, VP of sales at Imagination, said in a statement. "We are pleased to be working with Mavrix, a company with a strong vision of how to develop competitive mobile TV SoCs, to bring a mobile TV receiver to consumer devices."
Buzz has been surrounding mobile TV development for some time now, having reached a fever pitch this summer, when the World Cup soccer tournament was expected to be the application's "tipping point" for widespread consumer acceptance, especially in Europe.  The tournament did not prove to be the watershed moment for mobile TV adoption after all, although it did provide a boost to digital radio sales.  Nevertheless, analysts at ABI research recently estimated that in 2011, mobile TV services will have some 514 million subscribers worldwide, up from 6.4 million at the end of 2005.

Imagination also reported this week that its royalties climbed 200 percent in its most recent quarter with 15 million partner chips shipped in the first half of the year.

(http://www.edn.com/article/CA6394353.html?partner=enews)