Times are hard for telecine manufacturers.
Acterna Corporation (formerly Dynatech Corporation) parent of da Vinci Systems, Inc, along with all of its other subsidiary companies, filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in the US Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York on May 6th. Cintel has announced another batch of reductions, including the highly respected Peter Swinson, known widely throughout the
As Discreet moves into digital workstation grading, and Thomson prepares to launch the new Spirit 2 (4K) telecine, the industry segment hits hard times.
Cintel makers of the C-Reality and DSX film scanner, have just completed another round of cost cutting and staff reductions, of significance to many industry observers is that the company has cut so deep that it has let go staff that many industry insiders and customers consider extremely key to not only Cintel’s future but to the industry segment itself. Market development director Peter Swinson was a favourite with clients and to many people he was the public face of Cintel, his flair for stunts and good humour known worldwide (who can forget his 2002 stunt of totally ruining a film sequence with sandpaper to show how Cintel’s Oscar’s real-time optical scratch concealment and restoration system worked).
And if the telecine makers are feeling the pressure – so too are the colour grading desk manufacturers, according to Reuters News Service – Acterna Corp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection because of the prolonged downturn across the telecommunications industry and it arranged debtor-in-possession financing of $30 million.
Based in Germantown, Maryland, Acterna, davinci’s parent company, filed in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. While davinci’s therefore also in Chapter 11, it was stated that sales, support and service for the davinci line of products will not be effected for the time being.
The DIP financing of $30 million is from a group of banks led by JPMorgan Chase Bank and General Electric Capital Corp. This financing, combined with the company’s current cash, will enable Acterna to continue to execute its normal business plan, it said.
Acterna’s Chapter 11 filing applies only to its domestic subsidiaries and will not impact its operating subsidiaries in Europe, Latin America or the Asia-Pacific region, it said.
The terms of Acterna’s debt restructuring plan include reducing long-term debt by more than $750 million, or 78 percent of the company’s existing debt, and lowering annual cash interest expense by at least $45 million.
With the move to digital workstation film grading gaining such momentum the pressures on traditional ‘black box’ film transfer solutions seems set to only worsen. Telecine’s are relatively speaking extremely expensive and often one of the largest capitol outlays for a post-production company. It remains to see how the traditional players will regroup and if they can all survive the move forward.
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UPDATE
We received this statement from davinci:
“We want all our customers and partners to know da Vinci is operating
normally and Acterna’s recent announcement will have no impact on our
sales, support and service.
da Vinci will continue to provide the same level of customer service you’ve
experienced for the last 20 years.
Thank you for your support.”
Matthew Straeb
da Vinci