Microtune Purchasing Auvitek International

Microtune, the inventor of the single-chip television tuner, announced that it has signed an agreement to purchase Auvitek International, a supplier of DTV demodulator chips, for approximately $9 million in cash and stock.

"The acquisition of Auvitek's team and technology will not only enable us to target a larger opportunity in the worldwide integrated digital TV market, but also will allow us to better serve customers with more complete solutions," said James A. Fontaine, Microtune's president and CEO. "It enriches our portfolio of products; it substantially builds our intellectual property and employee talent base; and it adds resources, alliances and relationships that will help accelerate penetration into the China digital TV market."

When the acquisition process is completes, Microtune will be the sole owner of Auvitek. The purchase is expected to transform Microtune from a "pure-play" tuner supplier to a highly integrated RF to DTV signal system provider.

The deal is anticipated to be complete by the end of July.