Avid Technology announced its second divestment in as many business days. The Tewksbury, Mass. company, has agreed to sell its Pinnacle PCTV product line and related assets to Hauppauge Digital Inc. Financial details were not disclosed.
Pinnacle PCTV produces consumer HDTV receiver cards for computers and other products.
In the midst of what it calls a transformation, Avid is working to streamline its businesses, focus on its core strengths and be a more “customer-centric” company. Friday, Avid announced it was reducing staff by 410 positions and selling its 3-D animation Softimage division to Autodesk.
Avid said the market served by Softimage—video game developers—was not part of its mission.
Avid got $36 million for Softimage. Ten years ago, Avid bought the company from Microsoft for $285 million.
"As we transform Avid's business, our strategy in this sector is to increase our focus on software applications that not only meet consumer demand—but also complement our broader portfolio of video and audio solutions,” said Gary Greenfield, Avid CEO and “PCTV is a compelling standalone hardware product and a better fit for Hauppauge, a recognized leader in the TV-viewing hardware market."
Long Island-based Hauppauge Digital said it would probably continue the PCTV line along with its own WinTV product line.
"Avid's PCTV products have become one of the most popular TV tuner consumer product lines throughout the world," said Ken Plotkin, Hauppauge president and CEO. "With both the Hauppauge WinTV and Avid PCTV product families, Hauppauge will now be able to offer our customers an expanded set of TV products for personal computers, from entry level TV tuner products for laptop computers to high end embedded TV receivers used by leading PC OEMs."
