The conglomeration at the top end of broadcast equipment vendors continues as Grass Valley joins Miranda and Evertz in acquiring a broadcast automation vendor. Grass announced that it has purchased Netherlands-based PubliTronic. The company is known in the home market and has established a small customer base in the UK. It is known for the strength of their graphics provision, and well-liked by broadcasters who demand sophisticated branding.
The company has not previously strongly marketed its products, relying on word-of-mouth, so the Grass Valley acquisition opens up the possibility of global sales with a worldwide support organization.
The deal proceeded under wraps after arrangements made at NAB this year, with the product range already rebranded in Grass Valley livery in time for the recent announcement. The Nexus playout appliances become Grass Valley K2 Edge, and link seamlessly with existing K2 products for ingest and nearline storage. Cobalt remains the TX/MAM server and will link to the Grass Valley Stratus.
Harold Vermeulen, CEO of PubliTronic becomes VP Media Playout Solutions at Grass Valley.
“We had a small sales organization, and sales were by reference from existing customers. We are known in Europe, some Middle East, Singapore and Australia,” Vermeulen said. “The acquisition will help us build a global presence.”
“We have the capability to take the product globally, to the U.S. market and Asia.” said Alain Andreoli said Grass Valley CEO, “We see the U.S. market opening up. The U.S. broadcasters are seeing pressures on their costs and automating is a good opportunity for them.
“We talked to everybody (about automation) and we were very impressed at by the PubliTronic product. Their only handicap was the ability to sell and service worldwide, which is one of the strengths of Grass Valley.”
