Blackmagic Design Acquires Assets of Cintel International

Cintel are experts in film scanners and telecine - not Blackmagic's natural home you would thinkBlackmagic Design today announced the acquisition of the assets of Cintel International, one of the world’s leading researchers, designers and manufacturers of motion picture film scanners.

Simon Westland, Director of Sales for Blackmagic Design EMEA answered some of our questions.

Buying in to the film business on the face of it doesn't really make sense at this time. What is your thinking? 

Here at Blackmagic Design we have always loved film and we feel that the industry is still very much alive and thriving. Blockbusters including Black Swan, Wrath of the Titans and The Hangover Part II are all recent examples of movies shot on film. Currently in the middle of some big changes, the film market continues to evolve and the way in which film is used daily continues to change. What hasn’t changed is the acknowledgement that film is an extremely creative way to capture images. 

Cintel products are among the most trusted names in the film scanning business, and the incredible design expertise that has been built into every one of the Cintel products is amazing. Cintel started as a company in 1927, and has since been a hugely influential technology company in the film and television markets. Companies use Cintel film scanner and telecine technology worldwide, and there is more than 80 years of design experience built into Cintel’s current generation of products. 

This acquisition gives Blackmagic Design the ability to combine our vision and expertise with Cintel technology to provide the best technology for artists using film, more efficient and affordable ways to bring film into a digital workflow and better ways to archive and restore existing archive film worldwide.

The acquisition includes the patents so new products at new prices are obviously on the cards, can you comment?

At the moment, we cannot comment on pricing of new products. We are still involved in the research and development phase with Cintel, so we simply don’t have that information at this point in time. What we can say is that Cintel’s products are of very high-quality and require a lot of manufacturing and labour to produce which is costly, however we do recognise that price is an issue for customers working in the current economic climate. The important thing for Blackmagic in the coming months is to get the balance between producing a high-quality product and achieving that at an affordable price. 

Is the content film archive business richer than people imagine, is this market one of the reasons for the purchase initially, do you have a money figure on that market?

The film archive market is thriving and we are already working with quite a few archive customers who are using our products, like the ATEM, Hyperdeck and Videohub range for restoration and archive. With Blackmagic's size and experience we hope that we can boost the film business and with this acquisition it puts us in a good position to have access to best technology and to support the film market. 

Where will Cintel now operate from? Will they be at IBC with new product?

Following the acquisition we are still involved in the research and development phase with Cintel, so that information isn’t available at this moment in time. Our priority right now is getting the balance between producing a high-quality product and achieving that at an affordable price.

Through this acquisition, following the liquidation of Cintel International earlier in 2012, Blackmagic Design has acquired the intellectual property and all aspects of Cintel’s entire portfolio of film scanning products. This includes all of the IP, name and brand ownership and product development rights for the Cintel diTTo and dataMill digital scanners lines, URSA, C-Reality, DSX, and Millennium telecine lines as well as imageMill data management products.

“This is a very exciting acquisition for Blackmagic Design. Cintel products are the most trusted names in the film scanning business, and the incredible design expertise that has been built into every one of the Cintel products is amazing,” said Grant Petty, CEO, Blackmagic Design.

“The film market is in the middle of massive changes and how film is used is changing everyday. What hasn’t changed is the acknowledgement that film is an extremely creative way to capture images. This acquisition gives Blackmagic Design the ability to combine our vision and expertise with Cintel technology to provide the best technology for artists using film, more efficient and affordable ways to bring film into a digital workflow and better ways to archive and restore existing archive film worldwide,” continued Petty.

Service and support for existing Cintel customers will be handled by UK-based Cine Solutions Ltd. and US-based Cine Solutions Inc. Both are independent of Blackmagic Design and will supply replacement parts and repairs, provide expert engineering services as well as 24/7 maintenance help line to all users of equipment previously manufactured and supplied by Cintel International.