WINEGARD COMPANY FORMS STRATEGIC ALLIANCE
WITH PRO BRAND INTERNATIONAL TO MARKET 3 NEW HDTV PRODUCTS
UNDER THE WINEGARD BRAND
Under The Exclusive Agreement, Winegard Will Now Offer
An Off-Air/Terrestrial HDTV Set-Top Converter Box The HDTV2 SuperBoxTM,
An Antenna Rotor The AccuRotorTM And 3 Ultra Low Noise HDTV² Amplifiers For Use Wtih Off-Air, Digital, Analog and CATV
To Compliment Winegard’s Digital/HDTV Antenna Line
Burlington, Iowa, December 22, 2003. Winegard Company, an innovator and pioneer in product design, performance and assembly, announced today that it has formed a strategic alliance with Pro Brand International headquartered in Marietta, Georgia. Pro Brand is one of the pioneers in the satellite industry with a quality-proven oversea manufacturing capability for quality electronic components and a proven history in the industry.
In making this announcement, Bob Howell, Director of Distribution Systems/Off-Air Antenna Division said “This is just the next step in long term Winegard marketing initiatives started this year which will include additional strategic alliances, such as the one began this fall between Winegard and Terk Technologies, in which Winegard became the antenna manufacturer for Terk when it expanded its TV antenna line to include three high-performance Winegard antennas, the TV32, TV36 and TV38 to now offer 6 Digital/HDTV antennas in support of Terk’s HDTV Initiative.”
Winegard and Pro Brand sell to the same dealers. Winegard will soon begin selling, servicing and shipping 3 Pro Brand HDTV products in support of Winegard’s Digital/HDTV antenna line. This alliance gives Winegard an exclusive license to market the Off-Air/Terrestrial HDTV Set-Top Converter Box — The HDTV2 SuperBoxTM HD-RC10 under the Winegard Brand through Winegard’s general distribution base and RV OEM dealers, but not to mass retailers.
In Winegard’s drive to be the leader in HDTV antenna technology solutions, they negotiated an exclusive license to market the AccuRotorTM R-1000 Off-Air Antenna Rotor, specific to digital TV configuration. While a quality rotor is a good idea for analog signal reception, it is absolutely critical for digital/HDTV reception. As customers are finding out as they return their new Digital/HDTV antennas to retailers complaining that they don’t work, aiming antennas to pick up digital signals is all about absolute accuracy. Howell continued “New digital antennas have to be able to zero in on the specific multi-path signal you want to demodulate and reject the rest of the several different multi-path signals reaching the antenna at the same time. The accuracy of a rotor in being able always to return exactly to the same multi-path signal selected and programmed into the head-end set-top box is critical. The only rotor to be on the market that will do this is the AccuRotorTM.”
The AccuRotorTM also has several other major benefits over its main competitor from Channel Master. Its 1/3 smaller, but still has the horsepower to turn the biggest antennas on the market today. And the best news for installers is its “One Wire System” Normally an installer has to run a coax cable for the video signal and another wire to power and signal the rotor. The AccuRotorTM “One Wire System” powers the rotor and receives the signal through the coax and can still be diplexed and send signal to a pre-amp through the rotor. This makes the installation much easier, much faster and therefore, more profitable for installers.
The third group of products included in this agreement is 3 Ultra Low Noise HDTV² Amplifiers for use with off-air, digital, analog and CATV setups, the HDA-1015 with 1 RF output, HDA-1011 with 2 RF outputs and HDA-1008 with 4 RF outputs.
Howell continued “Our marketing objective is to continue to offer totally integrated solutions to our different antenna customers and to continue to provide products in line with the quality standards of Winegard to meet our consumer demand. Another example of a totally integrated solutions is our joint venture with PACE Electronics, one of the largest commercial distributors for head-end gear in the U.S. and DIRECTV’s largest master system operator. PACE introduced three new products at CEDIA Expo 2003 manufactured by Winegard and developed jointly for multi-unit residential and commercial Installers. And we were very pleased when we found out that the new Satellite Distribution Box and Satellite Distribution Amplifier were selected by CEDIA Daily editors for inclusion on their Hot 50 List for 2003 because of the integrated solution they offered installers.”
Winegard and Pro Brand plan multiple projects moving forward targeted at delivering solutions and opportunity for the industry and the consumer. Delivery will start from Pro Brand to Winegard in February, 2004 on the first 3 products.
About Winegard Company
The Winegard Company is widely considered an innovator and pioneer in product design, performance and assembly and has consistently adapted to meet the challenges of the ever-changing electronics market. It remains committed to continuous improvement in the quality, cost and delivery of its products and services to effectively meet all of its customer’s needs and currently designs and manufactures more than 1,000 different products in four product lines distributed in all states and worldwide, including:
• Satellite Antennas and Mounts: Residential antennas ranging in size from 18 cm to 1 meter.
• Mobile Television Reception Products: RV, Trucking, and Marine applications. Satellite systems ranging from manual crank-up models to automatic satellite tracking systems with GPS/DVB. Off-air antennas including bi-directional and omni-directional VHF/UHF/FM antennas. Ground Antenna Mounts and Accessories.
• Off-Air Antennas: From DC to 5.8 gigs AM/FM/VHF/UHF Antenna Systems, Distribution and Pre-Amplifiers, Power Supplies and Accessories
• Telemetry: Medical and Data Antenna Systems, Distribution Amplifiers, Power Supplies and Accessories.
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If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Robert Howell, please call Michael Sherman at 319-754-0604 or send an email to msher@winegard.com
