NEW YORK – Harris Broadcast is splitting in to two separate companies, the broadcast equipment maker announced Monday during its first ever media day.
Imagine Communications will provide media software and networking solutions to its more than 3,000 media, broadcast, service provider, government and enterprise customers spanning 185 countries. With more than three million products deployed that support over half of the world’s video channels, along with a rich portfolio of patents, the company will be headquartered in Dallas, with ‘Centers of Excellence’ in Toronto, Denver, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv and Beijing.
GatesAir will provide solutions for over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, leveraging wireless spectrum to maximize performance for multichannel, mission-critical services. It will be headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, with its manufacturing, supply chain and fulfillment center in Quincy, Illinois. GatesAir has been pioneering over-the-air TV and radio transmission innovation for nearly 100 years.
Imagine Communications is introducing a new media platform called MediaCentral, billed as the industry’s first integrated, end-to-end ad sales, traffic, scheduling, automation and playout platform that virtualizes key capabilities in the cloud, which were previously provided only in distinct, separate, and often premises-based platforms.
It is also rolling out Software Defined Workflows (SDW), a capability enabled by the company’s MultiService SDN architecture. Media companies currently operate in a hybrid environment of both baseband and IP workflows, but SDW manages video through broadcast facilities by allowing the entire workflow to be software defined, bringing all media into the IP layer and separating the media content components from control.
“We have created two laser-focused companies that are innovating across different ends of the technology spectrum”, said Charlie Vogt, CEO of Imagine Communications and GatesAir, in the announcement. “Imagine Communications will lead the media and entertainment markets to a future defined by IP, software, the cloud, and TV Everywhere, with an architecture vision for delivering and monetizing multiscreen content. Likewise, GatesAir will continue to lead the next-generation TV and Radio over-the-air market, with a focus on providing wireless innovations that reduce power consumption and carbon footprint, while leveraging the growth in digital radio and TV transmission across the globe.”
Harris Broadcast is a portfolio company of global investment firm The Gores Group.
