In Broadcast - December 2020 - 32

32

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 10 - Issue 12 | InReview 2020

InForm

Ready for the 'New Normal'
By: Chris Forrester, well-known
broadcasting journalist and industry
consultant...

W

ith the acquisition by Black
Dragon wrapped up in the
summer, Grass Valley's cloud strategy
is advancing at pace. I sat down with
Grass Valley's CEO and president, Tim
Shoulders, and Louis Hernandez Jnr,
CEO at Black Dragon Capital, to discuss
how it fits in with the wider industry
picture. Both businesses have a likeminded view on the technology and the
strategy for the future. That strategy is

coming together at speed.
When asked about the impact of
the COVID-19 virus on the company,
Shoulders admits that the challenges
that have flowed from the pandemic
have played to Grass Valley's strengths
in remote production and cloudbased workflows. The same is true for
the socially distanced working that
production teams now have to work
around.
Hernandez adds: " Some of my
industry friends are under tremendous
pressure because of these fastchanging business models brought on
by the virus. The industry was already
transitioning to the new realities
of remote production, and at Black
Dragon, we felt who better to step
forward than a brand like Grass Valley.
When we were putting down our bids
to acquire the company, one of the
things we really thought about was
which company is best suited to help
this industry navigate forward. "
Grass Valley certainly meets the
mark, as the recent launch of the Grass
Valley Media Universe demonstrates.
It introduces new business models -

" The industry was already
transitioning to the new
realities of remote
production, and at Black
Dragon, we felt who better
to step forward than a
brand like Grass Valley "
Louis Hernandez Jnr, CEO
Black Dragon Capital

such as pay-as-you-go - and eliminates
the need for upfront capital, allowing
customers to experiment with new
revenue streams. " GV Media Universe
unifies the customer experience
through a common interface and is
designed for the cloud, " Shoulders
explains.
He adds that the platform achieves
the 'Holy Grail' for Grass Valley.
" We wanted a complete broadcast
workflow, from image capture right
through to delivery into the cloud.
For some of the elements needed
to complete the chain, we have very
robust partnerships (for example,
communications and audio) in place
via our Grass Valley Technology
Alliance (GVTA) program. GV Media
Universe brings together a terrific
community of technology suppliers,
system integrators, and managed
service providers with a single,
common vision - to operate on our
platform and pass along efficiencies to
the customers. "
The need for greater efficiency is
one of the main drivers for technology
adoption in today's market.
As Hernandez explains, " When
we talk to major media companies,
they invariably list a few issues. They
know that content has exploded,
and competition for viewership
consumption per asset has dropped
as a result. Although consumption has
also increased, it doesn't match the
amount of choice and availability. The
bottom line for them is they need to
improve their yield per asset. There
are only two ways they can do that:
lower their costs or increase revenue!
" GV Media Universe is the best
solution I have seen in the market
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.grassvalley.com/products/cloud-based-workflows/gv-ampp/
In Broadcast - December 2020

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