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
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture -Zac Fields, Fox Sports, SVP of Graphic Technology and Integration...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
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 
