Sonicblue to auction off units

Sonicblue will put on the auction block its ReplayTV digital recorder and Rio MP3 business units, which represent the bulk of the company's assets, Sonicblue announced Tuesday.

Sonicblue, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, had hoped to sell the business units to Japanese electronics company D&M Holdings for $40 million. But the deadline expired before the deal could be completed.

ReplayTV and Rio will be auctioned off April 15, in two separate bankruptcy court transactions.

"While we worked very hard with the D&M team over the last few weeks, we were just not able to finalize all of the needed terms before the court-set deadline," Sonicblue CEO Greg Ballard said in a statement. "Our relationship with D&M is still strong, and we anticipate that they will participate in the court-run action process in April."

D&M previously had a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire the two business units.

Sonicblue said it will also put a third business unit, GoVideo, up for auction on Friday. Previously, Opta Systems had entered into a definitive agreement to buy the networked DVD player business for $12.5 million.

The pending auctions come roughly four months after Sonicblue announced it would seek a buyer as part of its strategic plans.