TeleMation Inc.

TeleMation

Company type	Private
Industry	Television, film, and post-production equipment manufacturing
Predecessor	Electronic Sales Corporation (ELCO)
Founded	Late 1960s
Founder	Lyle Keys
Fate	Acquired by Bell and Howell in 1977; brand continued under multiple ownerships until acquisition by Thomson SA in 2002
Successor	Bell and Howell (division), later part of Thomson SA
Headquarters	Salt Lake City , United States
Area served	Broadcast, cable TV, CCTV industries
Key people	Lyle Keys (founder and president)
Products	Black-and-white video equipment, color video technologies, closed-circuit television systems, character generators, automation systems, routers, switchers, digital noise reducers, non-linear editing systems, disk recorders
Owner	Formerly Bell and Howell; later Thomson SA
Number of employees	420 (circa 1970) (1970)
Parent	Bell and Howell (from 1977), later Thomson SA (from 2002)

TeleMation was a U.S.-based enterprise focused on equipment for the television, film, and post-production sectors, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company began by manufacturing black-and-white video hardware before broadening its portfolio to include color video technologies. Established by Lyle Keys in the late 1960s, TeleMation catered to broadcast, cable TV, and CCTV industries.

In 1977, Bell and Howell acquired TeleMation, and the brand continued under multiple ownerships until it was purchased by French electronics corporation Thomson SA in 2002.

History

Lyle Oscar Keys, originally an equipment salesman from Montana, joined KUTV Channel 2 in 1954 as an engineer; the station was partly owned by The Salt Lake Tribune. Observing supply difficulties within the industry, Keys played a key role in founding Electronic Sales Corporation (ELCO) under the Kearns-Tribune Corporation by 1962, where he served as president.

Within eight years, TeleMation expanded to employ 420 people, offering 156 products to the television sector and generating $10 million in yearly revenue. It emerged as a prominent provider of closed-circuit television systems and created customized solutions for cable, industrial, educational, and commercial TV applications. Keys was pivotal in product innovation and driving growth that led to the establishment of a large technology park facility.

By early 1971, Kearns-Tribune owned a 24.5% share of the company.

• In 1977, TeleMation was integrated as a division within Bell and Howell.
• October 1979 saw Bell and Howell partner with Robert Bosch GmbH's Fernseh Division to form Fernseh Inc., focusing on professional video cameras, video tape recorders (VTRs), and telecine devices.
• Bosch fully acquired Fernseh Inc. in April 1982, renaming it Robert Bosch Corporation, Fernseh Division.
• In 1986, Bosch collaborated with Philips Broadcast to establish Broadcast Television Systems Inc. (BTS), incorporating Philips' Norelco line of professional video cameras.
• Philips Electronics North America took full ownership of BTS Inc. in 1995 and rebranded it as Philips Broadcast - Philips Digital Video Systems.
• This division was sold to Thomson SA in March 2001, becoming Thomson Multimedia.
• In 2002, Thomson SA also purchased the Grass Valley Group from Tektronix.
• On February 6, 2014, Grass Valley was sold to Belden, which additionally owns Miranda.

Products

• A range of Telemation black-and-white video equipment
• TSE-200 Special Effects Generator
• TPC-100 Porta-Studio
• TMV-529 Waveform Sampler
• TMV-708 Camera Control Unit
• TMC 2100 Camera
• TVM-650 Multicaster Switcher – a vision mixer
• TMM-203 Film Chain Multiplexer – part of a Film Island setup
• TMU-100 Uniplexers
• TVM-550 Video Distribution Amplifier
• TPA-550 Pulse Distribution Amplifier
• AP C.A.T.V. Character Generators utilizing Teletype machines combined with video cameras (circa 1965)
• Series of Character Generators
• Automation systems including BCS 2000
• Digital Noise Reducer (Digital Noise Filter) introduced in 1984
• TVU-175 Ventilation Unit
• Various color products produced in Salt Lake City under multiple brand names
• TVS-1000 TAS-1000 routers with party line control panels featuring phone remote interfaces
• MCS 2000 Master Control Switch – vision mixer
• MC Machine Control units
• TSG-550 Sync Generator
• Tmt-101 Stairstep Generator
• Tmt-102 Multiburst Generator
• Tmt-103 Sin Pulse/Window Generator
• Compositor character generator
• TCF-3000 Color Film Chain Multiplexer – Film Island component
• Digital Encoder supporting PAL and NTSC formats
• Mach One Editor (acquired) – a Non-linear editing system
• Alamar Automation (acquired)
• TVS-2000 Video router with party line control panels available with or without mnemonic displays
• CE 2200 and CE 2500 party line controllers equipped with Status Displays
• TVS-3000 router and Venus router models
• BCS 3000 Controller based on HP UNIX – featuring VG 3000 VGS card
• Jupiter Controller – Windows-based router control system comprising:
  • VM 3000 VGA Status Display (V board)
  • SC 3000 Serial Control Interface (S board)
  • CE 3000 Matrix Controller (M board), enabling three-level switching and compatibility with other brands
  • ES 3000 ESnet Interface
  • PL 3000 Party Line Controller
  • SI 3000 Control Processor
• Jupiter Control panels including CP 3200, CP 3300, CP 3310, CP 3320; Jupiter XPress; CM4000 models
• Trinix router DM–33100; Saturn Master Control Switch; Weather Channel unit '97'; Mars; SDR–400; GS–400 systems
• FGS 4000 3D Character – Graphic Generator producing Computer-generated imagery
• Vidifont Character Generator acquired from Thomson SA
• The Media Pool – disk recorder for direct-to-disk recording

Trivia

Thomson operates offices in several strategic acquisition hubs, including its headquarters in Cergy, France; TeleMation in Salt Lake City, Utah; Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon; Grass Valley Group in Nevada City, California; Philips-Norelco in Breda, Netherlands; and Bosch Fernseh located in Weiterstadt-Darmstadt, Germany.

The company has earned numerous accolades from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences recognizing its technical advancements. These awards highlight innovations such as the Plumbicon Tube (1966–67), the FGS 4000 computer animation system (1987–88), Prism Technology for Color Cameras (1992–93), Controlled Edge Enhancement (1993–94), development of a High Resolution Digital Film Scanner (1997–98), collaborative video-data storage solutions for television servers (2000–01), and technology enabling simultaneous multi-quality video encoding (2002–03).

Telemation Productions

During the 1970s and early 1980s, Telemation Productions functioned as a post-production firm with branches in Seattle, Chicago, Phoenix, and Denver. By the late 1980s, these locations were either sold off or shut down.

The company originated in the early 1970s as a marketing extension of Telemation Inc., initially operating from a single office in Glenview, Illinois. It expanded by opening a Denver location in 1978. That same year, Telemation divested its television equipment manufacturing business to Bell & Howell but retained two production centers and a manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City, which was leased to Bell & Howell. In 1979, Telemation purchased a Seattle production site, rebranding it as Telemation Productions, and acquired a Phoenix facility in the early 1980s. Additionally, the company broadened its capabilities by establishing a Chicago-based distribution unit dedicated to duplication and shipment services for advertising agencies and introduced a mobile division featuring a television remote truck.

Between 1987 and 1990, ownership transferred twice before the company was ultimately acquired by the Home Shopping Network. Prior to this final sale, the Phoenix office and distribution division were sold off in 1989, and the remote truck was disposed of in 1990. Following these transactions, closures ensued: Seattle office ceased operations in 1991, Chicago followed in 1993, and Denver closed its doors in 1994.