Motorola Rolls Out HDTV Sets

[Gregg Lengling]

For the first time in three decades, consumers will be able to tune in a new Motorola brand television as the company in 2004 rolls out its high-definition sets using plasma and liquid crystal technologies.

But the new generation of Moto TVs -- and a line of related digital entertainment and communications products -- aren't your grandfather's "Quasar by Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people )" sets. The new line now includes home control monitoring centers that send an e-mail to a homeowner when a water leak or break-in occurs, devices that broadcast streaming video and audio from computers to TVs, and potentially, videophones.

"Thirty years ago, when Motorola was in the TV space, there was a big inflexion with the advent of color TV at economical price points," said John Burke, corporate vice president and general manager of Motorola's broadband unit's consumer solutions business. "There is a similar inflexion point today with HDTV. It is a natural opportunity for Motorola to leverage its legacy in the broadband space."

"Broadband space" refers to Motorola's No. 1 standing in the cable and satellite TV set-top box market, the result of its acquisition four years ago of General Instrument.

Motorola and Proview International Holdings, a Hong Kong computer monitor maker, formed a joint venture, Moxell, to produce Motorola-brand HDTV sets and other home entertainment products.

The TVs, ranging from 60 inches to 20 inches, first will hit China -- where Motorola is the market leader in cellular phones, unlike in the United States -- in the first quarter, and later in the year in the United States and Europe.

Rick Calacci, president of Moxell's Americas division, said the well-known Motorola brand name will give the new TVs a boost.

"The time is right to launch a lineup of innovative, state-of- art consumer products under Motorola's brand," he said. "Motorola has a long heritage as a premium tier-one manufacturer and brand in the electronics business. This heritage spans decades, which makes its consumer demographics and brand acceptance one of the strongest in the industry today."

The combination of the Moto name and Proview's expertise in display manufacturing is "a very compelling retail opportunity," Calacci said.

Garden Grove, Calif.-based Moxell will show off the new sets for the first time in the United States at the Consumer Electronics Show starting Jan. 8 in Las Vegas. The sets first were displayed last October at the Hi-Tech Exhibition in Shenzhen, China.

The prospects of high-definition TV, which is being phased in by the Federal Communications Commission, have attracted other newcomers to the TV business, including Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) and Gateway (nyse: GTW - news - people ). About 4% of U.S. households own HDTV-enabled TV sets, and that proportion is expected to reach about one in three by 2007. Analysts have speculated that Motorola is returning to the TV business to protect its stake in the cable and satellite set-top box business, since that sort of hardware and software could be built into the future TV sets.

Burke said the TV sets are part of a bigger digital strategy in which Moxell or Motorola by itself will produce a variety of digital entertainment products to help consumers fully tap into digital networks available in the home from DSL and cable broadband services.

Although Motorola has been a leader in the cable modem market, he said the Schaumburg tech company is "agnostic" about how broadband reaches the home.

In addition to the HDTVs, Motorola's product lineup includes: LCD computer displays; automotive video; CD/DVD players, recorders and drives; decoders that enable TVs to pull in HDTV signals from antennas and match them to the receiver in any TV; HDTV tuners with digital video recorders; home monitoring and control systems, including wired and wireless cameras and door/window sensors; Web-based media stations to control thermostats, household lights and home appliances that don't require an always-on computer; Internet phone products, including a voice terminal linking a conventional analog phone to a broadband network; home networking products, such as wireless cable modems, ethernet routers and access points, and digital cordless phones.

These products will be released throughout the year in 7,000 retail outlets, including Best Buy (nyse: BBY - news - people ), Circuit City (nyse: CC - news - people ), Sam's Club (nyse: WMT - news - people ), CompUSA, Target (nyse: TGT - news - people ) and OfficeMax, a subsidiary of Boise Cascade (nyse: BCC - news - people ).

Prices on the TVs have not been set yet. But a 60-inch plasma set from a competitor sells for about $10,000, a far cry from Motorola's first TV, the 7-inch, round-tubed Golden View, which went for about $180 in 1947. The Golden View was the first set priced below $200.

Burke said the big picture on the TV plans includes incorporating the entertainment devices into the broadband network in the home. The technology could be combined in new ways, such as home monitoring systems or using the TV as a digital videophone.

Motorola earlier this month scored a win when it was named the exclusive provider of adapters to connect analog phones to digital phone systems to Vonage, the leading digital phone service. Motorola also supplies the devices to cable TV companies that provide digital phone services.