This article possibly contains original research. (March 2023) |
Company type | Limited |
---|---|
Industry | Broadcast television, video production and motion picture |
Founded | 1973 |
Founders | Peter Michael, Arthur Graves, Anthony Stalley, John Coffey |
Defunct | 2015 |
Fate | Rebranded as Snell Advanced Media following consolidation |
Successor | Snell Ltd. |
Headquarters | , |
Key people | Richard Taylor OBE (former chairman), Paul Kellar MBE (former research director) |
Products | Digital production equipment |
Number of employees | 1,000 plus (1995) approx 250 (2014) |
Website | www |
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.