Media File: 1981
Sinclair in the News

The Associated Press
February 18, 1981

Sinclair Contracts with Timex to Build Small, Flat-Screen TV

Sinclair Research Ltd. said Wednesday it plans to proceed with a program to manufacture and market a small flat-screen black-and-white television set that would cost about $125.

The company said the screen and TV set will be produced by Timex Corp. at its plant in Dundee, Scotland, with the first finished sets rolling off the production line by mid-1982.

The program calls for capital investment of 5 million pounds, or $11.35 million at current exchange rates, over a four-year period in three stages. Sinclar would cover about half the costs, the Scottish Economic Planning agency would provide 1.5 million pounds, or $3.405 million, and a regional development grant would add 1.1 million pounds, or about $2.5 million. At the end of the first phase, which involves spending of 1.25 million pounds, or $2.84 million, Sinclair said tube production capacity would be 1 million units a year.

At a press conference Wednesday, Clive Sinclair, who owns 95 percent of the privately held company, declined to disclose details of the remaining stages, except to say that peak employment would total about 1,000, mainly in the assembly stage.

Research and development of the flat-screen TV project was backed by the National Research Development Corp., which provided more than 1 million pounds, or $2.27 million, over five years. Sinclair said the company will own all equipment and has an exclusive licence from the NDRC and that it will attain total ownership of the tube technology after certain payments have been made.

He said the flat-screen TV had the advantage of being only about half the volume of a conventional set of the same size screen. It is three times brighter and draws about four times less power than a conventional set, giving it advantages of light weight for portability and making it suitable for use with dry cell batteries.

The set that Sinclair and Timex will produce will have a tube measuring four inches by two inches, with a depth of .75 inch. It will weigh only a few ounces and, besides having FM radio reception capability, it will be able to receive TV broadcasts in most parts of the world.

Sinclair said one major retail chain in the United States was planning to order about 300,000 sets in the first year of production.

Sinclair said the company also was planning to make larger screen sizes later, and that the flat-screen tubes may well find use with its personal computer products. For very large screens and color reception, Sinclair said his company favored using three of the tubes simultaneously in a projection system, but he cautioned that those plans were not set for the near future.