SVG Sit-Down: Grass Valley's Tim Banks on the Next Phase in the Company's History The chief revenue officer sees a virtuous cycle of growth and investment' By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, September 26, 2023 - 10:20 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Grass Valley's presence at IBC this year signaled a new chapter in the company's history: it has completed a multi-year transition that finds it focused on a new stage of corporate growth. Its AMPP (Agile Media Processing Platform) has been a major focus in recent years, but, as Grass Valley Chief Revenue Officer Tim Banks explained to SVG during IBC, the company is still more than happy serving up quality hardware products as well.
Grass Valley's Tim Banks: We've recently made lots of smart organizational changes to deliver great operational efficiencies.
It has been an interesting time for Grass Valley. What was the mood of customers compared with NAB 2023?
The big difference is, at NAB, we were having to explain the context for the business transformation. There've been lots of changes not only in our industry but in any industry and businesses that have been transforming themselves. And the parallels are there when you look at some of the major media and entertainment companies in terms of protecting their core business while capitalizing on the opportunity of new business and new services. Most of the revenue and the margins come from the core business, but most of the growth is coming from the new business. That's where they're looking to invest, but it's not yet profitable.
So, there are still customers here at IBC who are looking for hardware.
Candidly, I think we may have overemphasized the software aspect at NAB. From an engineering perspective, most of our hardware products are made up of ever increasing proportions of software. The switchers have a lot of software. The cameras have a lot of software. The infrastructure products have a lot of software. When we messaged earlier in the year that we were doubling our investment in software, people [questioned whether it was] at the expense of hardware. But that isn't what we said: it was that the hardware that we're delivering is composed more and more of software. That required a change in skillset, resources, processes, and NAB was about explaining that context.
The cool thing about coming to IBC is, we can now say that transformation is complete. The end of June marked the end of Phase 3 of the business transformation since Black Dragon acquired Grass Valley, and all the reorganization, all the operational efficiencies that were needed to be made, are complete.
The history of Grass Valley saw several businesses amassed together, but they were not integrated. We had six business units each with their own P&L and their own management structure. We've recently made lots of smart organizational changes to deliver great operational efficiencies, and, by the end of this year, we'll have hired 400 new hires in the past 24 months into R&D and engineering positions. Those hires will allow us to accelerate our R&D roadmaps and deliver a best-in-class customer experience. For live production, we continue to innovate with our industry-leading solutions, such as the LDX150 and LDX135 camera platforms and the latest generations of K-Frame switcher and Kayenne panel. And we've also been investing heavily in the infrastructure products, like the IP gateways and the multiviewer range. There are lots of clients who want to keep buying their infrastructure from GV. It's what they're used to and what they're confident in and have a huge amount of trust in. Our credibility is based on core principles to lead through innovation and deliver the highest levels of quality and reliability.
One of the things COVID and the supply-chain disruption taught us is that we should take more control of our own destiny. For instance, we've recently made the move to in-source camera manufacturing; previously, the assembly of the PCBs was contracted to a manufacturer in Europe. All the cameras are now manufactured in-house in GV's main manufacturing facility in Montreal. Final assembly and testing will still be in the Breda[, Netherlands] facility, which is where all the R&D is located.
We're now transitioning into GV's next phase of growth and investment, and with that comes the appointment of some new key positions, like Ian Fletcher as CTO. Ian has been in the business for a long time, and I can't think of anyone better to lead the next phase of evangelizing about our vision, our technology strategy, and how we leverage the best agile software-defined architectures to create the future of media.
Also, Adam Marshall has been appointed chief product officer. He comes from a broadcast-operations background as well as solution architecture. He is responsible for the product portfolio in terms of product management and also the marketing function.
Most recently, we've made the appointment of Jon Wilson, who, as of Oct. 1, will be president and COO. He will be a great addition to the leadership team, as will Stephanie Sanchez, who has joined as chief strategy officer. She'll be working closely with Executive Chairman Louis Hernandez and Jon on the planning process for 2024 and our key strategic initiatives.
You mention the next phase. Can you walk me through some rough details of that phase?
There's not an end date on it because it's likely that it'll be a virtuous cycle of growth and investment. The key aspect of that is, the business is surging across the portfolio. For example, we've seen 200% revenue growth for AMPP year over year. We're also going to deliver our strongest revenue since the pandemic for cameras, switchers, and infrastructure as
North America Stories
20/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Cisco and the USGA have announced a multiyear extension of their partnership, which began in 2018. Cisco serves as the Official Technology Partner of the USGA, ...
19/05/2026
Urban Edge Network (UEN), a streaming platform for NAIA sports, has announced a partnership with Spiideo to provide streaming and production tools to UEN's ...
19/05/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) will provide live coverage of all 900 Roland-Garros matches across its platforms beginning with qualifiers on May 18. In Europe, 21...
19/05/2026
Tubi, Fox Corporation's free streaming service, has announced the launch of the FIFA World Cup 2026 FOX Hub, a dedicated destination for World Cup programmi...
19/05/2026
Telef nica, in collaboration with Sony, has conducted a 5G connectivity trial at the Movistar Arena in Spain using the 26 GHz millimetre wave (mmWave) band. The...
19/05/2026
Ross Production Services (RPS) has installed a Calrec Argo M console into its new Hypermax-1 remote production truck, replacing one of three Argo S consoles pre...
19/05/2026
Panasonic Projector and Display Corporation has announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares of UK-based media technology company Hive Media Control Ltd. (HI...
19/05/2026
Globecast has announced the completion of a nine-month renovation of its Singapore facility, converting it from a traditional linear broadcast operation into a ...
19/05/2026
Grass Valley has announced a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadc...
19/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that Watch Brasil, a streaming platform operating across Brazil and Europe since 2018, has replaced its legacy systems with Bitmovin'...
19/05/2026
Ateme has announced the migration of Dish Home Nepal's Nepal Premier League (NPL) streaming infrastructure to Ateme's TITAN Live solution deployed on Ak...
19/05/2026
CMSI provided workflow, media management, and HDR support for ESPN during coverage of the NCAA Gymnastics Semifinals and Championships. The company supported fi...
19/05/2026
In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into the six production-technologies nominated for this year's George Wensel Tec...
19/05/2026
In advance of this year's Sports Emmy Awards, SVG is taking a deep dive into the six production-technologies nominated for this year's George Wensel Tec...
19/05/2026
Featuring a fully IP infrastructure, Supershooter 11 is intended for large-scale events. Enabling remote and distributed workflows, Supershooter 65 joins the RE...
19/05/2026
By Jessica Herndon
The line wrapped around the building outside Denver's La...
19/05/2026
When all companies in the market are allowed to compete under the same set of ru...
19/05/2026
Battle-proven technology withstands electronic warfare threats across air, maritime surface and subsea domains....
19/05/2026
WESCAM MX-Series EO/IR systems provide high-precision targeting across domains, including counter-UAS applications...
19/05/2026
Champaign, IL - March 16, 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufa...
19/05/2026
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. April 16, 2026 - Cobalt Digital today announced a partnership ...
19/05/2026
Las Vegas - April 18, 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufactur...
19/05/2026
LAS VEGAS April 18, 2026 - Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Cobalt Digital are ...
19/05/2026
LAS VEGAS - May 4, 2026 - Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear initiativ...
19/05/2026
London - 11 May 2026 Cobalt Digital, the leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning signal processing products, and a founding partner in the openGear...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Grass Valley has entered into a three-year enterprise agreement with Phoenix Broadcast Solutions as the Singapore-based company expands its live production oper...
19/05/2026
Clear-Com supported Musikal Perahu Kertas, a large-scale musical theater production in Indonesia adapted from the acclaimed novel by Dee Lestari, through the d...
19/05/2026
Actus Digital, a LiveU company, and a leading provider of intelligent media monitoring and broadcast compliance platforms, announced today that METEO CONSULT ha...
19/05/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of managed services for the broadcast and media industry, today announced the completion of a major renovation of its Singapore fa...
19/05/2026
Following a major upgrade to its Connecticut remote production centre with the installation of three 60-fader Argo S consoles in 2023, RPS has switched one of t...
19/05/2026
PlayBox Technology today announced the launch of Celebro Play, a browser-based media orchestration platform designed specifically for broadcast facilities and p...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/05/2026
LYNX Technik, provider of modular signal processing solutions for broadcast, post, and professional AV will showcase its latest signal processing solutions at B...
19/05/2026
Media Links, a leading developer and manufacturer of IP media transport solutions, has announced the integration of its Xscend platform with Skyline Communicat...
19/05/2026
Collaboration expands regional partner ecosystem as Media Links showcases IP media transport solutions on stand 4M4-4 and alongside Clearcast Asia on stand
Me...
19/05/2026
Company Highlights Labor-Saving Control and Custom Branding Opportunities Designed to Increase Integrator Profitability
LynTec, a leading manufacturer of ele...
19/05/2026
Mago Studio Moves AI Video Beyond Prompts with New Production-Focused Tools
Brie Clayton May 18, 2026
0 Comments
New Capabilities Bring Controllable, ...
19/05/2026
It May be Time to Stop and Take an AI Breather
Brie Clayton May 19, 2026
0 Comments
If the rock you stay on starts to roll, jump clean. Or you'll...
19/05/2026
At this year's Google I/O conference, NVIDIA and Google Cloud are accelerating the work of more than 100,000 developers in the companies' joint develope...
19/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Trailer for RAFA, the Documentary Series A...
19/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Expands Consumer Products Footprint with Strategic Con...
SVG Sit-Down: Grass Valley's Tim Banks on the Next Phase in the Company's History The chief revenue officer sees a virtuous cycle of growth and investment' By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
