ChyronHego acquires Newsroom Solutions
ChyronHego announced the acquisition of Newsroom Solutions, a provider of fully integrated software, hardware, and services for local and network cable and television stations. Based in Charlotte, NC, Newsroom Solutions offers a suite of content and brand management solutions for deploying data-driven news ticker graphics such as severe weather alerting, school closures, and election reporting.
“ChyronHego is committed to leading the charge as the broadcast industry continues to coalesce around all-IP, software-based production technologies. Our acquisition of Newsroom Solutions is the latest step in our strategy to build the industry’s most complete software suite for live news productions. To that end, we will continue developing and acquiring the best technologies available,” says Johan Apel, president and CEO, ChyronHego. “With its comprehensive family of solutions and solid expertise in presenting data graphically from a range of data sources, Newsroom Solutions provides the ideal complement to our product family. The acquisition gives us a new center of competency that we plan on leveraging not just for broadcasting customers, but also in other markets that rely on compelling graphical presentations of real-time data.”
Newsroom Solutions’ flagship NewsTicker product is installed in 74 of the 75 largest TV markets in the U.S., and more than 500 stations count on the solution to provide mission-critical graphics displays in a 24-hour news cycle environment. The company’s Freedom HD is the leading graphics engine for domestic ticker displays. In the coming months, ChyronHego will work to integrate Newsroom Solutions’ real-time data presentation technologies with its ChannelBox channel branding product to provide additional targeted options to the market.
“The acquisition by ChyronHego is a tremendous step for our company and will give us access to a powerful multinational development and sales team as we continue to expand our presence beyond the North American market,” says Rick Summers, vice president for sales and marketing, Newsroom Solutions. “Plus, it’s a significant advantage for our customers, who will now be able to access ChyronHego’s rich array of graphics creation and playout solutions while continuing to receive the same outstanding service for which our company is well-known.”
“ChyronHego’s technology stack is complementary to our content-centric mission,” said Drew Hahn, vice president for research and development, Newsroom Solutions. “Our two teams of developers will work closely to identify opportunities that leverage each other’s core strengths and provide both productivity and functional enhancements to our clients. We are excited to work with the talented ChyronHego team.”
In other IBC news, VidiGo — a ChyronHego company — announced that it has signed a contract with Euro Media Group (EMG) to deploy its all-new VidiGo Live solution in four live production galleries. As the first user of the VidiGo Live software for live multicamera television production, EMG is now officially a VidiGo technology partner.
“This new technological partnership is in line with EMG’s proactive digital strategy and reinforces our leadership in the broadcast industry. We are pleased to work with the VidiGo team, whose solutions will add value to EMG Content Services’ existing offering,” says Thierry Drilhon, chairman and CEO of EMG.
“We had been evaluating remote production solutions for two years. Having worked intensively with VidiGo, we came to the conclusion that VidiGo Live is clearly the most advanced solution in the industry. VidiGo Live has the potential to reinvent live broadcasting by separating equipment from the physical location of the production. With less bandwidth required, facilities are able to eliminate expensive dark fiber connections,” says Ronald Meyvisch, new technology officer at EMG. “As a pure software company, VidiGo won us over with the stunning performance of its streaming solution for multiviewer monitoring and interfaces. It’s clear to us that this technological approach is the future of live TV production.”
The VidiGo Live remote live production solution is a complete multicamera production environment that offers camera SDI inputs/outputs, video playback, graphics, audio, and the automation capabilities for which VidiGo is well-known. In a typical VidiGo Live deployment, cameras and a production server are the only equipment required at the remote location, with the full production controlled over an IP network from a centralized studio. In this manner, production facility providers such as EMG are able to reduce costs substantially because they are not required to deploy complete OB vehicles and crews to every location.
Following completion of the VidiGo Live installation in the four remote live production galleries, EMG will continue to expand the deployment.
“It’s an exciting time for VidiGo. In addition to our recent acquisition by ChyronHego, the new partnership with EMG is a significant milestone for our company,” says Hans Krouwels, CEO of VidiGo. “Although VidiGo Live has been well-tested in smaller remote productions, with the EMG deployment we’re entering the major league. For almost a decade, our team has been working hard to develop software-based solutions for broadcasting, and it’s tremendously gratifying to see their efforts come to fruition.”