Mountain View, CA, January 29, 1997 - THOMSON SUN Interactive and SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics announced today the results of a cooperative development agreement to integrate TSI's OpenTV™ interactive television technology with the ST20 family of 32-bit RISC controllers from SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics.

SGS-THOMSON is the first semiconductor vendor to support OpenTV for inclusion in set-top devices built by its OEM customers. ST20 derivatives already designed into set-top devices from manufacturers worldwide are optimized programmable transport integrated circuits (ICs) - ST20-TP1 for DirecTV™ and ST20-TP2 for DVB - for set-top box applications. Both devices are in production today.

In addition to chipsets, SGS-THOMSON offers a complete reference platform enabling manufacturers to rapidly develop their own digital set-tops supporting OpenTV. This kit includes OpenTV compliant software drivers as well as fully functioning MPEG set-top hardware.

"We are excited to see this level of acceptance of our technology within the hardware industry and are pleased to have the support of a leading chip vendor such as SGS-THOMSON to help round out our interactive television solution," commented Jon C. Haass, Director of Product Marketing for THOMSON SUN Interactive. "This agreement will only serve to accelerate the move toward interactivity taking place in the market today."

"Incorporating OpenTV at the chipset level will greatly reduce set-top manufacturers' time to market as they start with a fully operational OpenTV reference design when they choose the ST20," said Philippe Lambinet, Director of SGS-THOMSON's STAR Business Unit. "SGS-THOMSON already has a strong position in the set-top market, thanks to the success of the ST20 and our leadership position in the MPEG-2 decoder IC market. Being the first IC vendor to offer OpenTV should further consolidate our position in this market."

THOMSON SUN Interactive, LLC provides an end-to-end software solution for the development and delivery of interactive television services. Its premier product offering is the industry standard OpenTV software family, a platform and network independent, open solution for delivering enhanced television services to the home.

SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics is a global independent semiconductor company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and on the Bourse de Paris. It designs, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of semiconductor ICs and discrete devices used in a wide variety of microelectronic applications, including telecommunication systems, computer systems, consumer products, automotive products and industrial automation and control systems.

DIRECTV is a registered trademark of DIRECTV, Inc., a unit of Hughes Electronics Corp.

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For further information, please contact :
Simon Loe
Technical Press Relations Manager
SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics
Tel : +33 4 50402558
E-mail : simon.loe@st.com

Pam Golden Loder
Golden Loder Associates on behalf of THOMSON SUN Interactive
Tel : +1 908 233 2040
E-mail : pgloder@goldenloder.com