Telestream, a provider of digital media tools and file conversion technology, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the business operations of the Anystream division from parent Grab Networks.
No financial details were provided as both companies are closely-held private entities, but Dan Castles, CEO of Telestream, said the “very intense” negotiations had heated up in the past few weeks and a resolution was reached. The move strengthens Telestream’s efforts to offer enterprise-class, file-based and live encoding solutions worldwide in combination with its automated multiplatform media publishing solutions.
There appears to be some overlap of product lines — in terms of software-based file transcoding and media management technology, but Castles said how the two companies approach the market is very different. Telestream tends to be a more “broadcast-centric” company while Anystream has focused on the larger media corporations. Anystream’s first customer in 2000 was CNN headquarters in Atlanta.
“There isn’t as much overlap in products as one might think initially,” Castles said. In addition to CNN, Telestream also claims a client list that includes CBS, BBC, FOX, CBC, Comcast, DIRECTV, Time Warner, MTV, Discovery and Lifetime.
As part of the agreement, which is planned to be completed by the end of the year, Telestream will take on 30 employees from Anystream’s Dulles, VA, office, expanding Telestream's staff to 160 people worldwide. Current Anystream locations in New York City and Boston will be closed.
What attracted Telestream was Anystream’s Agility 2G and Avalon product portfolio. The Agility 2G platform targets on-demand video production and management applications and is used by more large media companies that work with such common file formats as MPEG-2, H.264, Microsoft’s Silverlight, Windows Media, and Adobe Systems’ Flash. Live input sources include analog, SDI and HD-SDI with discrete and embedded audio. The Agility 2G platform employs a multi-threaded architecture and grid encoding to provide enterprise-class scale and reliability at all resolutions.
The company’s new Avalon solution expands on Agility’s capabilities by providing a metadata ingest, creation and packaging solution to automate the publishing of video to multiple outlets and devices.
Castles said both product lines will continue to be supported and advanced.
“When we looked at our product line, the Agility and Avalon platforms fill a number of gaps, allowing us to capture business we would not have won otherwise.” Castles said.
The move is also a sound strategic one. Market research firm In-Stat said it expects the worldwide multiformat transcoding market to grow from $117 million to $297 million in 2014 — according to its report entitled “Worldwide Market for Enterprise-Class Multiformat Transcoders,” issued August 3, 2010.
