Avid Renews CBC Agreement, Stock Dips

Avid (NASDAQ:AVID), a provider of platforms that empower the media and entertainment industry, announced on Tuesday (July 24) that it has renewed a multi-year agreement with CBC/Radio-Canada.

CBC is Canada’s national public broadcaster and the agreement between the two entities will enable CBC’s production teams to stay up-to date thanks to Avid’s software.

Further, the national broadcaster will have a predictable support costs due to the consistent use of software across the organization which will help in its fiscal planning.

In the press release Avid said that the renewal agreement is for five years and noted that CBC is a long customer of Avid.

“This multiyear agreement provides CBC/Radio-Canada with the ongoing support and software upgrades its needs to function as a modern media organization and continue to bring audiences its unique Canadian perspective on news and current affairs,” Tom Cordiner,  senior vice president of global sales at Avid said in the release.

CBC relies on Avid’s MediaCentral platform for its production of news and original programming.  

It was also noted in the press release that CBC has one of the world’s largest MediaCentral installations.

Scott Stewardson, executive director at CBC, said that the success of the previous agreements led to the renewal of contract.

“Having this support in place will enable us to improve efficiency,” Stewardson said. “This will enable our production teams to deliver compelling mobile, web, radio, or television content using the most advanced software available.”

The broadcaster operates 27 television stations, 82 radio stations and 11 foreign bureaus and is Canada’s only nationwide radio network.

Neither CBC nor Avids revealed the financial details of the agreement but Avid noted in its Q2 2018 guidance that its revenue is set to improve from US$97 million to US$107 million.

In its 2018 Q1 earnings call, Avid said that its MediCentral platform licenses were 54,500 which was 17 percent up year-over-year.

Following the announcement on Tuesday, Avid’s shares were down 4.95 percent and closed the trading at US4.80.

TradingView has a strong sell ranking on the stock with 17 verticals against, eight in neutral and one in favour.

Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!

Securities Disclosure: I, Bala Yogesh, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.