Here's the scoop: CableCard is literally a card that you pop into the back of your TV set so that you can get rid of your digital cable box and plug that coax directly into your digital TV (it's sort of like how you can use analog cable on a cable-ready analog TV without a cable box).
The two companies will begin the work to integrate National as a unit of TI's Analog business, which will have a combined portfolio of nearly 45, 000 analog products, strong customer design tools, and a sales force that is 10 times larger than National's previous footprint.