Grass Valley Executive Chairman Louis Hernandez on Cloud-Based Future, $31M Deal With Broadcast Solutions Group

03/12/2021

Grass Valley Executive Chairman Louis Hernandez on Cloud-Based Future, $31M Deal With Broadcast Solutions Group Cloud-based solutions, more-flexible business models, enterprise-pricing agreements are key By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director

Friday, December 3, 2021 - 7:00 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

IBC went virtual this week, and so did Grass Valley's press conference. And it gave Grass Valley Executive Chairman and Black Dragon CEO Louis Hernandez Jr. and the Grass Valley team a chance to update the public on the company's direction in light of the departure of President Tim Shoulders and others last month. Hernandez says Black Dragon is in a unique position to build market leaders like Grass Valley for the long term.

Grass Valley and Black Dragon's Louis Hernandez Jr.: I believe open [systems] and more flexibility lower costs and allow you to be more agile as a media organization.

That's exactly what we're trying to do with Grass Valley, he says. We own 100% of Grass Valley and have tremendous flexibility and a long-term horizon to invest. One thing we loved about Grass Valley is, it has one of the most comprehensive product suites in the industry and incredible IP. They're number-one or -two in every category, a great brand, and have some of the most sophisticated clients in the world.

As for the future, he expects a fairly significant expansion in current products and continued investment in the current product suite.

You're going to see us lead with cloud-based solutions and more-flexible business models, such as subscriptions combined with traditional capex models, he explains. I think you're going to see the most open integrated system that we have in the industry. During my time here in this industry, I believe open [systems] and more flexibility lower costs and allow you to be more agile as a media organization.

One of the challenges facing the industry, he says, is that, although there has been an increase in consumption per capita, the yield per asset is dropping, along with revenue or viewership per asset.

And that's at a time when tech budgets, while they're increasing, are not increasing as fast as the increase in demand for content creation and the new forms of digital distribution, he says. This is exactly the kind of challenge that Grass Valley is trying to take on with the native shared cloud Grass Valley Media Universe.

Being cloud-native is important, Hernandez notes, because it was built from scratch as a digital-technology platform where individuals, groups, and organizations can work together on a shared ecosystem and platform.

We have connected hardware devices, software-only-solutions alliances, all sharing this global platform in this new digitally connected community that has been created by Grass Valley, he says. It's a really exciting development, and it's now starting to accelerate and capturing the imagination of the industry. The business reason we've created it is, we want to drive down [customer] costs so that they can use the best products in the world and shift more of investment dollars to new revenue streams.

Grass Valley's Neil Maycock: We want to innovate not just with our technology but with our commercial models and how we engage with customers.

At the center of that universe, says Grass Valley CMO Neil Maycock, is the AMPP Agile Media Processing Platform.

Think of it like an operating system that is enabling all these new business models and technical capability, he explains. We want to innovate not just with our technology but with our commercial models and how we engage with customers. We've introduced radical commercial-agreement models. And we're working to build alliances and partnerships that allow the GV Media Universe to be much broader than what we can offer with our portfolio.

Key, he says, are enterprise agreements that give both the customer and Grass Valley the certainty and shared savings via multi-year commitments. They lower the unit economics, which makes the elements that our customers are using from Grass Valley more cost-effective and cheaper to deploy. We can work together in a true partnership to realize better value.

Playout capabilities are only one aspect of the functionality of Grass Valley's AMPP Agile Media Processing Platform.

A new enterprise-pricing deal between Grass Valley and leading production-truck manufacturer and systems integrator Broadcast Solutions Group hints at that kind of future relationship between technology provider and client. Under the deal, Broadcast Solutions will commit to an investment of $31 million over five years to deliver on its strategic vision to develop mission-critical premium live-content solutions for global media companies. The deal underlines Grass Valley's mission to be the digital transformation partner of choice for the world's leading creators and providers of premium live content. As part of that commitment to be at the cutting edge of cloud-based technologies, Broadcast Solutions Group's Nordic Team will establish a competence center in Helsinki based on Grass Valley's AMPP and will build scalable, state-of-the-art Live Production Solutions.

Says Antti Laurila, managing director, Broadcast Solutions Nordic, Our customers are at the forefront of the best-loved premium live content and rely on partnerships that ensure they have the best workflows available. The enterprise agreement strengthens our partnership with Grass Valley and supports our ambition to be the leader in the media-systems-integration and -services market in the Nordics. Both our companies are trusted brands, and together we are able to help customers as they navigate a transitional period in the media and entertainment sector by bridging legacy and fut

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2021/12/03/grass-valley-executive-chairman...
	See more stories from svg

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

18/03/2026

Net Insight Names Larissa GrnerMeeus CPO

Newly named chief product officer (CPO), Larissa G rner Meeus will return to Net Insight on May 4. Larissa G rner Meeus will become CPO of Net Insight on May 4...

18/03/2026

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG Europe's The Football Summit 2026 explored how the sports broadcasting i...

18/03/2026

SVG's SportsTech@NABShow Blog Goes Live as Countdown to Vegas Heats Up

The 2026 NAB Show kicks off one month from today and SVG is once again set to cover the show from every angle. SVG's SportsTech@NAB Show Blog is now live - ...

18/03/2026

The Premiere of Dead Lover Showcases Grave Robbing and Sex With a Giant Finger

(L-R) The cast and crew of Dead Lover at The Ray Theater for its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo by Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundan...

18/03/2026

Music Row Piano from Wiltone Productions

Yamaha C7 captured in Nashville Wiltone Productions have announced the release of Music Row Piano, a deeply sampled Yamaha C7 piano library that's been ...

18/03/2026

Techivation introduce T-Warmer Mk2

Bass-enhancement plug-in upgraded Along with a steady stream of new releases, Techivation have recently been revisiting some of the older plug-ins in their ...

18/03/2026

Tonal Balance Control 3 from iZotope

Mix-reference plug-in overhauled iZotope's powerful mix-referencing plug-in has just reached its third major version, and now boasts a new capture proce...

18/03/2026

Toontrack Transistor Organ EKX

Latest EZKeys 2 expansion arrives Toontrack's staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a on...

18/03/2026

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture

Jess Ho explores the politics of food in new SBS Audio podcast For The Culture 18 March, 2026 Media releases New SBS Audio podcast For The Culture, hosted ...

18/03/2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz at NAB 2026

Future-ready broadcasts with ATSC 3.0 and enhanced services from Rohde & Schwarz...

18/03/2026

LCTWS 2026

London Calling - When The Industry Convened to Help Streaming Find its MoJo In this blog, Laura Rognoni reflects on key discussions from the Connected TV World...

18/03/2026

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations

SMPTE Unveils 2026 NAB Show Educational Presentations Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments SMPTE , the home of media professionals, technologists, a...

18/03/2026

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K

Auditel Ad Campaign Shot on Blackmagic PYXIS 12K Brie Clayton March 18, 2026 0 Comments LED wall virtual production blends 12K open gate acquisition w...

18/03/2026