North Carolina-based video-enhancement outfit SMT has acquired rival company Sportvision and will be rebranding the company, best known for sports TV graphics such as the virtual 1st-and-10 line, under the SMT name. The combined SMT-Sportvision operation will have reach into hundreds of major U.S. sports events, and nearly every major sports broadcaster. SMT will retain Sportvision’s production and technology operations, including a facility in Fremont, Calif., but close the company’s Chicago administrative offices. Key Sportvision execs such as CEO Hank Adams will depart after a 60-day transition period. “Putting these two operations together we believe will accelerate our innovation,” said SMT Founder, President & CEO Gerard Hall. “In a sense, this is an efficiency play. Instead of having two separate production staffs, two separate (research and development) groups and so forth, we will put our resources together toward a single trajectory.” Financial terms were not disclosed, but the deal was financed through a minority-round investment by Eldridge Industries, Vicente Capital Partners and Hall. Eldridge Industries is led by Dodgers investor Todd Boehly. The deal also follows SMT’s hiring of veteran ESPN exec Jed Drake to led the company’s emerging tech initiatives.
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