INGOLSTADT, GERMANY – Zestron president Dr. Harald Wack has been named to run Dr. O.K. Wack Chemie, the parent company.

Wack’s father, Dr. Oskar Wack, founded the precision cleaning company in his garage in 1975. The business then expanded into electronics cleaning, and Zestron was formed. Headquartered outside Munich, the firm now operates technical centers in Ingolstadt; Manassas, VA; Kulim, Malaysia; and Shanghai. O.K. Wack focuses on automotive cleaning products.

In addition, Michael McCutchen has been promoted to vice president of Zestron Americas and South Asia, and Christine Demetz is now operations manager. Dr. Harald Wack has assumed the role of president for both firms, and will be based in Europe. 

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Mobile video services in China, Brazil, and the US are creating new growth markets for all-digital mobile tuners, which will drive the value of silicon TV tuners to $750 million in 2015, says In-Stat.

The transition from older-style can-type tuners to silicon TV tuners began in 2010. Today, the top TV set manufacturers are actually putting silicon tuners directly on their main TV chassis boards, and many ODMs are using can-type modules that contain silicon tuners and demodulators. 

By 2015, nearly 80% of all new TV sets will ship with silicon tuners built in, the firm says. Silicon tuner shipments into Latin America will grow at CAGR of 30.5%. In North America, silicon tuners built into TV sets will grow with a CAGR of 22.5% through 2015.

Many European TV sets already include silicon TV tuners, and expected growth will push the number of units shipped to nearly 36 million in 2015, according to In-Stat.

In the cable TV space, Broadcom’s full band capture technologies will help bring an expanding range of Internet protocol services to consumers’ homes.

In the satellite space, NovelSat’s NS-3 modulation may create a new wave of satellite services that can reinvigorate shipments for next-generation satellite set top boxes.