Miranda Acquires Softel…Read The Subtitles (Business | Acquisition)

[SatNews] “Captioning is a critical component of the playout chain, and one that is often difficult to manage,”

Miranda Technologies, a Belden Brand, a global provider of integrated solutions for production, playout and delivery systems for television broadcasters and multi-system operators announces the acquisition of Softel, a leading provider of captioning, subtitling, audio and video description, interactivity and other key video technologies for broadcasters and content producers worldwide.

Softel, headquartered in Pangbourne, UK, has a long history of innovation and strong customer relationships through its award-winning line of captioning and subtitling solutions that simplify this complex, legally required addition to a broadcaster’s playout workflow.

“Captioning is a critical component of the playout chain, and one that is often difficult to manage,” said Marco Lopez, Miranda’s president.  “By introducing Softel’s technology into the Miranda portfolio and directly integrating it into our iTX solution, we’ll present broadcasters with further efficiencies, not only in the purchase process, but also during deployment and in post-sale support as well. Miranda will continue to support the full Softel solutions suite and honor all Softel partner agreements.”

In addition to its Swift™ line of subtitling and captioning products, Softel also offers a host of advanced television systems that improve efficiency and enable new revenue streams. Network operators can offer interactive television and “second screen” applications to their subscribers and improve headend efficiency with the MediaSphere™ suite or add MPEG ad insertion capabilities with Oliver™. Softel also provides solutions for ancillary data processing, audio/video description and Teletext.

“We’re certain our customers will benefit from the synergies this acquisition creates,” said Sam Pemberton, Softel’s CEO. “Being aligned with Miranda in the Belden family extends our reach into potential new markets and being part of this team allows us to focus on continuous innovation.”

Integration planning will be led by a team of Miranda and Softel executives, but there will be no business disruption for Miranda or Softel during the transition. The integration is expected to be complete by this summer.