AJA and Nikon withdraw from NAB 2020 in Las Vegas

California-based AJA Video Systems and the Japanese camera firm Nikon have both pulled out of NAB 2020 citing concerns about the coronavirus.

AJA released a statement on Monday 2 March 2020 announcing that it would not exhibit at, or attend, the Las Vegas expo. The company said, “It is with a heavy heart that AJA is withdrawing from the NAB 2020 show in Las Vegas due to the risks from the Coronavirus. We have made this decision out of an abundance of caution for the health and safety of our employees and partners worldwide.

“While we will miss gathering with our friends and colleagues from around the world, AJA remains fully committed to transitioning all of our planned NAB events (product announcements and demos, channel partner meeting and press conference) to web-based video conferences. We have exciting product news to share, and we look forward to bringing those products to market as planned.

“AJA is a community-based company with a majority of our staff, product development and manufacturing located in Grass Valley, California and in light of the risks presented by Covid-19, having a physical presence at NAB posed too great of a risk.”

Nikon followed suit on Thursday (5 March 2020), saying: “[Our] first priority is always the health and safety of our employees, partners and customers. As we continue to closely monitor and gauge the impact of COVID-19, Nikon Inc. and MRMC [Mark Roberts Motion Control], a Nikon Group company, have made the decision not to participate in NAB 2020. We will continue to closely evaluate our travel policies, programmes and activities to mitigate risk.”

NAB 2020 takes place 18-22 April 2020 at the Las Vegas Convention Centre.

The organisers released a statement on 28 February confirming that the event would still be going ahead.

This story was edited and updated on Friday 6 March 2020.