Quantel

Quantel
Company typeLimited
IndustryBroadcast television, video production and motion picture
Founded1973; 51 years ago (1973)
FoundersPeter Michael, Arthur Graves, Anthony Stalley, John Coffey
Defunct2015 (2015)
FateRebranded as Snell Advanced Media following consolidation
SuccessorSnell Ltd.
Headquarters,
Key people
Richard Taylor OBE (former chairman), Paul Kellar MBE (former research director)
ProductsDigital production equipment
Number of employees
1,000 plus (1995) approx 250 (2014)
Websitewww.quantel.com
Footnotes / references
[1]

Quantel was a company based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1973 that designed and manufactured digital production equipment for the broadcast television, video production and motion picture industries. It was headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire. The name Quantel came from Quantised Television, in reference to the process of converting a television picture into a digital signal.

Quantel acquired Snell Limited in March 2014.[2] Following a period of consolidation the two companies started operating under the Snell name, trading as Snell Advanced Media or SAM, from September 2015, following the staged removal of the Quantel board of directors by incoming CEO Ray Cross.[2]

Quantel was purchased by Grass Valley, who were taken over by Cayman Island-registered Black Dragon Capital in 2020 who decided to close down Newbury factory in 2023, the 50th anniversary year of Quantel.

Around 50 legacy Quantel machines are known to still exist in museums and private collections around the world, several of which have been restored to working order by enthusiasts.

  1. ^ "Radiohead", biography of Sir Peter Michael, by Darius Sanai, The Independent, 27 September 2000 (retrieved 24 August 2012).
  2. ^ a b "Former SAM-branded Products". grassvalley.com. Retrieved 5 January 2019.[permanent dead link]