Ross Video Ltd is a

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

Canadian company that designs and manufactures equipment for live event and video production. Ross Video's headquarters and manufacturing operations are located in

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, while their R&D labs are in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, Ontario, Canada. CurrentNew

History

John Ross, a former engineer with the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...

(CBC), founded Ross Video in Iroquois, Ont., in 1974 to make production switchers. Jim Leitch, founder of Leitch Video (acquired by

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle ...

), initially suggested that Ross should start the company. The primary seed funding for the company came from the sale of a

Taylorcraft L-2 The Taylorcraft L-2 Grasshopper is an American observation and liaison aircraft built by Taylorcraft for the United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Design and development In 1941 the United States Army Air Forces ordered four Tay ...

that John Ross had restored. The company's first generation of switchers was the RVS family. The RVS 16–4, the first switcher made, was followed closely by the RVS 10-4 (a 16–4 with 10 video inputs). The first downstream keyer (DSK) could be added to the 10-4 to allow the addition of more video layers. Ross launched its second generation of switchers with the “500 Series” in 1978 which included Multi-Level Effects (MLE's), letting operators preview content before putting on the air. MLE is the Ross branded term for ME. In 1983, the company launched the Encore Memory System option which converted every switch and knob position to digital to be stored for future recall. Then, in 1985, Ross introduced its third generation of switchers which were smaller and talked to the control panel over a serial link, using

microprocessors A microprocessor is a computer processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry r ...

in the chassis to control the electronics. The company was hit hard by the early 1990s recession, but has since recovered, reporting 25+ consecutive years of growth. John Ross' son David joined the company full-time in 1991 and was later promoted to Director, Product Development, responsible for all product development in the company, then to Executive Vice President, President, and then to CEO in April 2006. In November 2005, David Ross assumed the position of Chairman of the Board and is now the majority shareholder of Ross Video with over 80% ownership. Today, the firm makes hardware and software for live and pre-programmed TV production, including cameras, production switchers, graphics, robotic camera systems, routing and infrastructure systems, signal processing solutions, production automation systems, newsroom computer systems and social media management tools. Its broadcast customers include Shaw,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

, and its mobile productions unit produces sports events for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

, NBC and Fox. Ross equipment and systems have even been used to make graphics for the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

, the

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

(Oscars) and

Grammys The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

. The company also provides stadium graphics for professional sports teams including the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National ...

and

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

Acquisitions

From 2009 to 2021 Ross has acquired 18 companies in this order: * Media Refinery (Graphics) * Norpak (Data Insertion) * Codan Broadcast (Routers) * Fx-Motion (Robotics) * Cambotics (Robotics) * Montalto (Router R&D) * Mobile Content Providers (Mobile Production Packagers) * Automated Data Systems (Newsroom Systems & Prompting) * Unreel (Virtual Sets and Augmented Reality Solutions) * Rocket Surgery (Motion Graphics Creative Services) * Abekas (Video Servers and Replay) * Coveloz (Live Networking Experts & Consulting) *Portalis (KVM Systems) *PIERO (Sports Graphics) *Coiron (Graphics) *Image Video (TSI Tally Control Platform) *Primestream (Media Asset Workflow Solutions) *D3 LED (LED displays) *Spidercam (Cable Camera System)

External links

References

{{reflist Electronics companies of Canada Film and video technology Companies based in Ontario Electronics companies established in 1974 1974 establishments in Ontario Canadian brands