Grass Valley Transmission and Headend Divisions Renamed Thomson Broadcast and Thomson Video Networks

As part of the process of the Grass Valley divestiture, Technicolor is separating its transmission and headend divisions from Grass Valley. These two business units will now operate as stand-alone entities under the Thomson brand and are being renamed Thomson Broadcast and Thomson Video Networks.

The announcement follows a binding offer made by Francisco Partners’ in July to acquire the Grass Valley Broadcast & Professional business unit. The transmission and headend divisions were not in included in the deal, which is expected to close by the end of 2010.

Thomson Broadcast provides services, technologies, and product families for terrestrial television, radio, and scientific transmission applications, including a range of antennas, transmitters, and Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) radio systems. Thomson Broadcast offers a range of efficient, flexible, and future-proof digital solid-state and tube-based transmitters for HD, 3D, and mobile TV transmission. Nicolas Dallery has been appointed to head Thomson Broadcast.

Thomson Video Networks provides a unique portfolio of video compression and content processing solutions at the digital headend, with professional services for network operators and broadcasters. Thomson Video Networks develops hybrid and multiformat compression systems for DTH, terrestrial and mobile TV, IPTV, as well as Web TV networks based around the key ViBE product family. The company also provides strategies for migration to IP-based video transport, video server technologies, and redundancy and monitoring systems. Christophe Delahousse will continue to head Thomson Video Networks.