Saankhya Labs CEO Sees ATSC 3.0 Chipsets in Smartphones by Holiday 2018

The ATSC 3.0 receiver chipsets that Saankhya Labs is developing on the “fast track” with Sinclair’s One Media (see 1703280044) should be available in time to be deployed in smartphones and other consumer products for the 2018 holiday selling season, Saankhya CEO Parag Naik told us Friday. “We’re discussing the scale,” and will know the timetable “in about a month’s time,” said Naik. Saankhya’s software-defined radio platform will allow for chips that can accommodate other global broadcast standards, he said. “Depending on the application, depending on the customer, we could have a different product mix” based on variations of the same chipset design, he said. “For example, the same chip could be used for fixed receivers,” like large-screen TVs, and “also gateways,” in addition to mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, he said. Naik sees the U.S. as hosting the first worldwide commercial deployment of the Saankhya chipsets for ATSC 3.0. In South Korea, which is scheduled to formally launch ATSC 3.0 services in a matter of days, “we are talking to OEMs there as well,” he said. Sinclair’s offer at last week’s ATSC conference to give out the receiver chips for free (see 1705170033) is part of an effort “to seed the market,” said Naik. Component costs are “a function of the volume,” he said. “Once the market gets seeded and critical mass is achieved, your costs will drop and it becomes ubiquitous, and almost everyone then will probably start to put it in his phones or TVs.”