SOMERSET, N.J.: Modulation Sciences is going south. The signal processing specialist announced this week that it’s exiting the U.S. market:
“Citing the near demise of the United States over the air broadcast marketplace and MSI’s continued growth and acceptance in Latin America and Mexico; Modulation Sciences will no longer manufacture or support U.S. standard products,” the company said in a press release.
Founder and CEO, Eric Small said Modulation Sciences had served the U.S. market for 30 years, “but it is no longer financially viable. Given our international success and the introduction of our ISDB-TB product, our future is clearly outside the United States.”
Company President Hallie Swerdlin said current inventory of U.S. standards gear would be made available at a discount.
“We are making all current inventories of the 4400A and Digital PRO available at a 50 percent reduction. Domestic broadcasters can fill any remaining need or carry additional units for spares and maintenance parts,” she said. “As of now, we are out of the U.S. market. Ending the support and service of these products was a difficult decision but a necessary one. We expect our users to appreciate the cost reduction so they can acquire the proper number of replacement and maintenance units. But once current inventories are gone, they are gone.”
ModSci’s moves over the last year have signaled the march south. It moved into Latin America last August and authorized a reseller for the region in January. Swerdlin’s statement last August indicated U.S. business diminished in the wake of the June 2009 digital transition.
“We have been tracking new opportunities for quite some time. We have met with several leading organizations in both Central and Latin America,” she said. “The initial reception has proven to be even more positive than we had expected. Strategically, we are well-positioned to meet their immediate analog needs and we are certainly prepared to assist as they expand their digital capabilities.”
ModSci also moved to a smaller facility last August, and streamlined the manufacturing operation. At the time, Small said the company would “continue to serve the domestic broadcast market from this facility.”
The following month, ModSci cut the price of its Digital PROceiver IFB box by 30 percent “due to volume of requests” for the elections, it said.
Swerdlin became president of Modulation Sciences in 2009 after serving for two-and-a-half years as executive vice president, managing finances and marketing for the company. Before joining ModSci in 2007, she was in financial services.
Eric Small started his broadcast career at a classical music radio station in New York in 1964, and soon moved to A&R Recording under Phil Ramone. He later became chief engineer at WOR-FM in New York. In 1974, Small helped develop the Orban Optimod FM audio processor, and became a consultant. After a few years working in the aerospace industry on the visuals for the F/A-18 flight simulator, Small returned to broadcasting and founded Modulation Sciences in 1981. He was named to the Federal Communications Commission Video Programming and Emergency Access Advisory Committee, which formally commenced in January.
Small started a ModSci blog in April of 2009, months after the first U.S. TV stations ceased broadcasting in analog. In it, he described discrepancies between analog and digital transmission that led to widespread loss of coverage in some areas after the full transition in June of that year.
ModSci is direction questions to Lawrence Pecora, executive director of global sales and marketing, at 732-266-8776, or via email at lpecora-at-modsci.com
~ Deborah D. McAdams
