IBC 2013: Manufacturers need to be wary of investing too heavily in the development of 4K kit, according to the recently appointed chief executive of Harris Broadcast.

Speaking at his company’s press conference in Amsterdam today, Charlie Vogt said some companies can fail by “getting ahead of the technology curve”.

He said: “You can spend on R&D but as the CEO of an equipment company I worry about putting money into a market that might not materialise for two or three years.”

Vogt, who was appointed Harris Broadcast chief executive in July, said many viewers are still coming to terms with the shift to HD.

And he warned that some device manufacturers are “two to three years ahead of where networks and broadcasters are”.

The opportunities to grow Harris will instead come from new entrants to broadcasting - in particular, OTT players.

“Frankly, our market is not growing much,” Vogt said. “It is now about taking new share and expanding into new markets.

“For example, Fortune 500 companies are becoming mini broadcasters with all sorts of content to play out to their customers and employees, and we have the technology to help those enterprise customers.”

Consolidation

Vogt said that since joining Harris Broadcast he had spent much of his time simplifying the company’s product portfolio.

The company will now have two “fundamental product pillars” of content management (which will include tools for ad sales and scheduling, automation, DAM, master control, and integrated playout) and network infrastructure (for products such as routing, multiviewers, signal processing, and transmission).

The company will also focus on four key markets: media, playout, networking and transmission.

“We will also be taking our 16 R&D centres and consolidating them to four. That will benefit our R&D teams as we will have greater more scale in fewer locations,” Vogt said.

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