Avid Technology announced its second divestment in as many
business days. The Tewksbury,
Mass. company, has agreed to
sell its Pinnacle PCTV product line and related assets to Hauppauge Digital
Inc. Financial details were not disclosed.
Pinnacle PCTV produces consumer HDTV receiver cards for
computers and other products.
In the midst of what it calls a transformation, Avid is
working to streamline its businesses, focus on its core strengths and be a more
“customer-centric” company. Friday, Avid announced it was reducing staff by 410
positions and selling its 3-D animation Softimage division to Autodesk.
Avid said the market served by
Softimage—video game developers—was not part of its mission.
Avid got $36 million for
Softimage. Ten years ago, Avid bought the company from Microsoft for $285
million.
"As we transform Avid's business, our strategy in this
sector is to increase our focus on software applications that not only meet
consumer demand—but also complement our broader portfolio of video and audio
solutions,” said Gary Greenfield, Avid CEO and “PCTV is a compelling standalone
hardware product and a better fit for Hauppauge, a recognized leader in the
TV-viewing hardware market."
Long Island-based Hauppauge Digital said it would probably continue the PCTV line along with its own WinTV product line.
"Avid's PCTV
products have become one of the most popular TV tuner consumer product
lines throughout the world," said Ken
Plotkin, Hauppauge president and CEO. "With
both the Hauppauge WinTV and Avid PCTV product families, Hauppauge will
now be able to offer our customers an expanded set of TV products for
personal computers, from entry level TV tuner products for laptop
computers to high end embedded TV receivers used by leading PC OEMs."