Your favourite TV programme anywhere!

Good news for TV addicts. Soon they will have the possibility to watch their favourite TV programmes wherever they may be as a result of new chipsets for digital TV from a dynamic French electronics company.

Founded in 2000, DiBcom designs high-performance, low power consuming chipsets – based on their patented algorithms and architectures – which enable mobile TV. This means digital television will be available for cars, laptops, PCs and portable LCD TV, and even mobile devices such as cell phones and PDAs. Indeed, last May, the company launched the DIB7700 chip which allows digital TV reception on PCs.

“DiBcom was the first company to target mobile TV receivers using broadcasting technology, and introduced the first mobile Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestial (DVB-T) receiver back in 2002,” declares Yannick Lévy, CEO of DiBcom.

More recently, DiBcom announced the closing of its fourth round of financing, lead by Partech International, amounting to €24.5m. This fourth round will allow the 70 employee company – currently with headquarters in Paris, and offices in Germany, Taiwan, China and the US – to extend its presence in Asia and into the United States.

“We at Partech believe broadcast TV on mobile and portable devices will shortly be a huge success across many segments of customers through many different types of devices from car TV to handset,” states Jean-Marc Patouillaud, General Partner at Partech International. “We are very excited to be part of this venture and to assist DiBcom in becoming a leader in mobile digital TV.”

Since its establishment, DiBcom has secured €40.7m in venture capital funding and the list of investors also includes Intel Capital, 3i and SGAM Alternative Investments.

DiBcom was involved in CONFLUENT, a one year preparatory EU project, which concluded in 2003. The CONFLUENT consortium – which included Philips, Thales and T-Systems Nova – initiated development of technologies and methods based on UMTS and DVB-T in order to produce high speed, low power consuming handheld devices for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB). Within the framework of that project, DiBcom has proved the feasibility of mobile DVB-T receivers which were tested with success in lab and in the field.

Currently, DiBcom is involved in the INSTINCT EU project, the €9.6m successor to CONFLUENT. The project is split into three two-year phases with the first phase concluding in December. The project consortium is expecting to showcase a set of tools for simplified content and service creation for hybrid broadcast/cellular networks as well as prototype applications in the area of e-entertainment and e-learning. INSTINCT project has been a great help for DiBcom to develop the world’s first DVB-H receiver chipset which was introduced at 3GSM World Congress in Cannes early 2005.

Reflecting on his company’s recent successes, Yannick Lévy concludes “With our clear technology lead and financial backing, we are confident DiBcom will further extend its position in the industry.”