SMT Acquires IDS

SportsMEDIA Technology Corporation (SMT), a provider of live data and graphics products to broadcasters, has acquired Jacksonville, Fla.-based Information and Display Systems, LLC, (IDS) in a deal that will nearly double the size of SMT.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In announcing the deal, SMT noted that it had raised capital in 2010 from Vicente Capital Partners in 2010 and has since been looking for an acquisition that would add new products and services to SMT's current product mix and help it expand its market reach.

"SMT and IDS combined as one company, with its inherent synergies, will prove to be greater than the sum of the two companies apart," said SMT president and CEO Gerard J. Hall in a statement.

"We have at a single stroke doubled the size of SMT," Hall added.

As part of the deal, SMT will operate IDS as a wholly-owned business unit of SMT. Gerard J. Hall, SMT founder and CEO, will become CEO of both companies and remain president of SMT.

Meanwhile, Rallis Pappas, IDS co-founder, will retain the title of president of IDS.

IDS personnel and senior management are expected to remain in place.

SMT is a major provider of graphics, statistics and video enhancement software and services for live television sports and entertainment broadcasts. Its technologies are used in such events as the Super Bowl, NBC's Sunday Night Football, the Indianapolis 500, March Madness, the Triple Crown, NASCAR, NBA on TNT and NHL.

IDS's scoring and statistics systems and display boards and systems are used at such events as Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, Roland Garros, the Australian Open, the Olympic Games in London, The Open Championship, the Masters, the PGA Tour and the Dew Tour.

It also works with such sports governing bodies and companies as the NBA, WTA Tour, WNBA, PGA Tour, UFC, USTA, USGA, CrossFIT, NHL, IBM and Sony Ericsson.