Joint Venture Will Challenge Cable TV

Broadcom Corp. today will announce a multiyear joint venture with a Rohnert Park, Calif., company to transform copper telephone wires into a powerful weapon that telephone companies can wield against cable television operators. The Irvine chip maker and Next Level Communications Inc., which have worked together for the last several years, plan to co-develop chips for set-top boxes that work with very high-speed digital subscriber line, or VDSL, technology. The set-top boxes will let telephone companies offer customers voice, data and video services--and at prices consumers now pay for the same services from a cable network.