RPi went with BCM because it was founded by ex-Broadcom employees. There is no other good reason to use a Broadcom chip, especially in an "open" platform, becau

RPi went with BCM because it was founded by ex-Broadcom employees. There is no other good reason to use a Broadcom chip, especially in an "open" platform, because BCM chips by definition are not "open". The BCM283x series has a good mix of features, but it is far from being the only solution for set-top boxes.