Ascent Unloads Subtitling Firm
Ascent Media sells Visiontext to SDI Media.
By Glen Dickson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/23/2008 6:55:00 AM
Television-services firm Ascent Media signed a deal to sell its Visiontext subtitling business to subtitling and dubbing specialist SDI Media.
Terms of the deal, planned to close by the end of September, were not disclosed.
Visiontext, which was acquired by Ascent Media in 2000, has offices in Los Angeles and the United Kingdom and provides subtitling, closed-captioning and other services for feature films and television programming worldwide. It also supplies captioning for commercials in the United Kingdom to serve hearing-impaired viewers. After the acquisition, SDI will continue to service Visiontext’s existing customer base.
“This sale is a first step toward creating a strategic alliance with SDI Media,” Ascent Media CEO Jose Royo said in a statement. “Over the long term, we will build on this foundation to bring greater value to all our clients.”
SDI, owned by media-focused private-equity firm Elevation Partners and headquartered in Los Angeles, has major operations in Europe, Asia and North America. It translates movies, TV shows, commercials, trailers, interactive games and other multimedia content in more than 60 languages and in all distribution formats and operates in 32 countries worldwide.
“As a thriving brand, Visiontext will strengthen SDI Media’s position as market leader,” Visiontext managing director Maggie Nuttall said in a statement. “Our clients will also benefit tremendously from this move to SDI Media and their extended relationship with Ascent Media.”
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