In a careful and strategically planned move that adds national and global reach and manufacturing capacity, the Northeast's leading media manufacturer, Video Transfer of Boston, Massachusetts announced the end of September that it has acquired Video Labs Corporation of Rockville, Maryland. This acquisition is the fourth facility in the Video Transfer family of companies, which now includes facilities in Boston, Las Vegas, Nevada, Southborough, Massachusetts and the new, Rockville, Maryland.
Late in 1998, Video Transfer's Vice President of Sales, Karl Renwanz, told IMAGINE, "The DVD train is leaving the station. And if you don't get on it now, you're going to be left behind." Video Transfer was the first New England Company to work in DVD.
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At that time, Renwanz also said, "as the business continues to grow, we plan to add another DVD suite in the near future." The next year, Video Transfer moved from fashionable Newbury Street in downtown Boston to larger and expanded facilities south of town on Harrison Street, where new chapters in the company's history began. Then DVD players sold for $600. Now the growing number of consumers can find them under $200 and order their entertainment online receiving as many as DVD titles per month as they can watch for $20! What a difference a few years can make!
"For some time," said Renwanz updating IMAGINE, "we have been seeking opportunities in the media replication world and have had discussions with a number of companies in our industry. Video Labs offers a great deal of synergy to Video Transfer and our entire family of companies. In addition to large volume VHS and Betacam SP broadcast work, Video Labs will feed large volume CD and DVD manufacturing work into High Speed Video in Southboro, Massachusetts. Additionally, Video Labs will now offer the same extended line of digital and High Definition formats that has made Video Transfer a market leader."
The Video Labs acquisition adds forty more staff members, and a facility that includes additional DVD authoring, CD and DVD duplication, broadcast services as well as 1000 professional high-grade VHS machines.
Outgoing Video Labs CEO, Bill Kisse said, "After twenty-four years of operation, we were determined to find the right match when we sold the company, and with Karl and Sondra Renwanz, we have found just that. We are pleased to have Video Labs be Video TransferÕs fourth facility in the U.S. and are confident of their continued success."
The acquisition of Video Labs brings the overall group of four companies to160 full time employees and adds another strategic region for media manufacturing to the group. Video Labs will now add High Definition format capabilities as well as CD and DVD optical disc manufacturing to their list of media services.
"Video Labs' dominant presence in the Washington, D.C. and mid-Atlantic area gives us expanded reach for our videotape and optical disc manufacturing capabilities. We are very excited about taking over such a well established, well run and capable facility," said Karl Renwanz, the new President of Video Labs.
All four U.S. facilities offer twenty-four hour operation and a range of services from package design to retail distribution. Clients served include a who's who list of U.S. Corporations and International Concerns as well as major entertainment companies. Karl and Sondra Renwanz, who have since built two new facilities in addition to the purchase of Video Labs Corporation, founded video Transfer in 1986.