Montreal, Canada – February 27, 2024 – Grass Valley, the leading innovator for live production solutions, is delighted to announce a multi-year, multi-million dollar strategic partnership agreement with First Gulf Company, a pre-eminent systems integration firm based in Saudi Arabia. This collaboration marks a significant milestone for demonstrating Grass Valley's commitment to expanding its footprint in the Saudi market, reinforcing its industry leading position in this rapidly evolving media hub for the Middle East. 

Louis Hernandez Jr, Executive Chairman and CEO of Grass Valley, expressed his enthusiasm about the partnership, stating, "The Middle East market, particularly Saudi Arabia, is on the cusp of becoming a leading media force, driven by vision, ambition and substantial investments in live sports, events, content production, and entertainment. Our alliance with First Gulf Company is a strategic move to seize this momentum and provide best-in-class, award-winning solutions to the region. Together, we're poised to redefine the media landscape with innovations that cater to the evolving needs of leading media and entertainment players." 

First Gulf Company, renowned for its expertise in systems integration and a pioneering accredited partner for GV’s Agile Media Processing Platform (AMPP), shares Grass Valley's vision of revolutionizing the media and entertainment industry. Joe Chbat, Executive Vice President at First Gulf Company, commented on the partnership, “We are excited to collaborate with Grass Valley and are glad to take this partnership to the next level to serve our clients with advanced technology. Our shared commitment to excellence and innovation is a testament to our combined potential to set new industry standards. By integrating Grass Valley's state-of-the-art solutions, like the LDX100 series cameras, K-Frame switchers, Kaleido IP multiviewers and GV’s AMPP SaaS Platform, we are not just responding to the current demands but also helping shape the future of media production and distribution in the Middle East."  

The partnership has already demonstrated its proven potential through successful projects such as the deployment of Studio A for the Saudi Broadcast Authority and innovative IP studio and IP playout projects with Bahrain TV. These initiatives underscore the synergy between Grass Valley's technological prowess and First Gulf Company's integration expertise, setting the stage for transformative projects across the region. 

As the industry continues to evolve, the collaboration between Grass Valley and First Gulf Company is a beacon of progress, symbolizing the dawn of a new era in content production and distribution, powered by cloud-native software-defined platforms. The partnership not only reinforces both companies' status as trusted advisers in the technology domain but also paves the way for AMPP to become the open operating system of choice for the media and entertainment industry in this high growth region. 

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About Grass Valley

Grass Valley is the leading technology provider for the live media and entertainment industry market. We work with 90% of the world’s major media brands, enabling their live production centers, mobile production units, 24-hour newsrooms, and sports streaming platforms to be ever more productive with SaaS and hardware systems. Our solutions enable content owners and service providers to create and deliver compelling live content in the most profitable way.

From IP-native cameras to state-of-the-art software and hardware production and playout systems, we’re at the forefront of ground-breaking live media innovation. We continue to pioneer market-leading advances to create and move live content more efficiently and generate new revenue streams.

Headquartered in Montreal, Grass Valley has been engaged in the media technology business for over 65 years and is now part of Black Dragon Capital. Learn more at grassvalley.com.