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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 150 / Monday, August 9, 2021 / Notices www.ftc.gov/news-events/commissionactions.
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or before September 8, 2021. Write Broadcom Incorporated; File No. 181
0205 on your comment. Your commentincluding your name and your statewill be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the https
www.regulations.gov website.
Due to the COVID19 pandemic and the agencys heightened security screening, postal mail addressed to the Commission will be subject to delay. We strongly encourage you to submit your comments online through the https
www.regulations.gov website.
If you prefer to file your comment on paper, write Broadcom Incorporated;
File No. 181 0205 on your comment and on the envelope, and mail your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite CC5610 Annex D, Washington, DC 20580; or deliver your comment to the following address:
Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Constitution Center, 400 7th Street SW, 5th Floor, Suite 5610 Annex D, Washington, DC 20024. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service.
Because your comment will be placed on the publicly accessible website at https www.regulations.gov, you are solely responsible for making sure your comment does not include any sensitive or confidential information. In particular, your comment should not include sensitive personal information, such as your or anyone elses Social Security number; date of birth; drivers license number or other state identification number, or foreign country equivalent; passport number;
financial account number; or credit or debit card number. You are also solely responsible for making sure your comment does not include sensitive health information, such as medical records or other individually identifiable health information. In addition, your comment should not include any trade secret or any commercial or financial information which . . . is privileged or confidentialas provided by Section 6f of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46f, and FTC Rule 4.10a2, 16 CFR 4.10a2
including in particular competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.

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Comments containing material for which confidential treatment is requested must be filed in paper form, must be clearly labeled Confidential, and must comply with FTC Rule 4.9c.
In particular, the written request for confidential treatment that accompanies the comment must include the factual and legal basis for the request, and must identify the specific portions of the comment to be withheld from the public record. See FTC Rule 4.9c. Your comment will be kept confidential only if the General Counsel grants your request in accordance with the law and the public interest. Once your comment has been posted on the https
www.regulations.gov websiteas legally required by FTC Rule 4.9bwe cannot redact or remove your comment from that website, unless you submit a confidentiality request that meets the requirements for such treatment under FTC Rule 4.9c, and the General Counsel grants that request.
Visit the FTC website at http
www.ftc.gov to read this Notice and the news release describing the proposed settlement. The FTC Act and other laws that the Commission administers permit the collection of public comments to consider and use in this proceeding, as appropriate. The Commission will consider all timely and responsive public comments that it receives on or before September 8, 2021. For information on the Commissions privacy policy, including routine uses permitted by the Privacy Act, see https www.ftc.gov/site-information/
privacy-policy.
Analysis of Agreement Containing Consent Order To Aid Public Comment I. Introduction The Federal Trade Commission has accepted, subject to final approval, a consent agreement with Broadcom Incorporated. Broadcom designs, develops, and sells semiconductor components for a wide range of computing and telecommunications applications, including for set-top boxes STBs and broadband devices such as modems. STBs and broadband devices are sometimes collectively referred to as customer premises equipment or CPE or CPE devices.
As further described below, the consent agreement contains a proposed order addressing allegations in the proposed complaint that 1 with regard to certain components used in CPE
devices, Broadcom unlawfully maintained a monopoly and unreasonably restrained trade through exclusive dealing and related conduct, and 2 with regard to certain other
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components used in CPE devices, Broadcom unreasonably restrained trade through cross-product conditioning, all in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 45.
The proposed order has been placed on the public record for 30 days in order to receive comments from interested persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the public record. After 30 days, the Commission will again review the consent agreement and the comments received and will decide whether it should withdraw from the consent agreement and take appropriate action or make the proposed order final.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the proposed order. It is not intended to constitute an official interpretation of the complaint, the consent agreement, or the proposed order, or to modify their terms in any way. The consent agreement is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by Broadcom that the law has been violated as alleged in the complaint or that the facts alleged in the complaint, other than jurisdictional facts, are true.
II. The Complaint The complaint makes the following allegations.
A. Background Consumers use STBs and broadband devices in their homes to access television and internet services. Service providers such as telecommunications and cable companies supply their customers with the CPE devices needed to access television and internet services.
Broadcom makes semiconductor components that are used in CPE
devices. These include a system on a chip or SOC, which is the core component directing the functions and features of a CPE device; a front-end chip, which converts incoming analog signals to digital signals to be read by the SOC; and a Wi-Fi chip, which enables a device to connect to a wireless network. Original equipment manufacturers OEMs incorporate these components into STBs and broadband devices, which they typically build to service-provider specifications and sell to service providers.
Broadcom has long been the dominant supplier of i SOCs for traditional broadcast STBs,1 ii SOCs for DSL
1 Broadcast STBs, sometimes referred to as traditional STBs, access television signals over a broadcast interface e.g., cable, satellite, or fiber, as distinct from streaming STBs, which access only
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