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In April 2014, SintecMedia, the developer of OnAir, announced that it had completed the acquisition of Pilat Media, the developer of IBMS and its #1 competitor. This is definitely one of the more interesting business announcements in the broadcast management system market for many years. What makes it even more interesting is that unlike two of SintecMedia’s recent acquisitions of Storer TV and Argo Systems in 2013, the acquisition of Pilat means that the two leading companies in the industry are joining forces.
But where is this acquisition going, and what does this mean for current IBMS customers?
SintecMedia has never hidden the fact that it strives to be the industry leader in the broadcast management system arena, and by purchasing its biggest competitor will help it to get closer to accomplishing this goal. Thanks to this acquisition, as well as those from 2013, SintecMedia is now able to offer a very wide portfolio of solutions to its customers.
However, it is quite obvious that Sintec will find it difficult to continue to maintain two leading systems like OnAir and IBMS, and work is already underway to consolidate the two systems. This is not going to be an easy task, for two main foreseeable reasons.
First of all Pilat, who only recently introduced a customization layer into IBMS, would always include new functionality and customizations for all customers, into the one, single core system. This meant that IBMS undoubtedly became the most feature-rich system in the market, offering functionality far greater than that of OnAir. For Sintec to be able to offer the same level of functionality inside the OnAir platform will mean a rather complex development project .
Secondly, once Sintec is able to offer its current IBMS customers a system with all necessary features, it will then need to persuade them to move over to the new system. It remains to be seen how many would be interested in doing so, and how many may decide to move on to a new platform altogether. This of course produces great marketing potential for other vendors such as MediaGenix, MSA Focus and Provys, to name just a few.
Only time will tell the outcome, but one thing is certain. If Sintec, despite the many challenges ahead, is able to play its cards right, it will indeed achieve what it set out to do, which is to enhance its objective of being the undisputed global leader in the broadcast management system market.
More about the acquisition can be found on the SintecMedia web site.