Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE to unify IP and cloud production workflows

The acquisition significantly strengthens Broadcast Solutions’ ability to manage large-scale digital transformations as European broadcasters face mounting pressure to retire aging SDI gear. By absorbing BFE’s specific expertise in control room systems and media IT, Broadcast Solutions positions itself as a dominant end-to-end European alternative to fragmented smaller integrators. This move addresses a critical bottleneck in the industry: the widening skills gap between traditional broadcast engineering and specialized IT networking required for SMPTE ST 2110 workflows. Success will be measured by the group’s ability to deliver hybrid-cloud architectures that successfully balance real-time acquisition with virtualized playout and remote production scales.

The acquisition follows a string of strategic expansions for Broadcast Solutions, including the December 2025 launch of 'Broadcast Solutions Connect' through the merger of Thum + Mahr and its own service division. In May 2026, the group further bolstered its specialization by acquiring PMT Professional Motion Technology and merging it with Egripment Deutschland to dominate the specialty camera and rental segments. These moves reflect a broader industry consolidation trend where, per NewscastStudio in December 2025, economic pressures are forcing broadcasters to shorten infrastructure investment cycles and prioritize partners capable of delivering turnkey, software-defined systems.

BFE carries significant momentum into the merger, recently completing a major core modernization for Austrian broadcaster ORF in January 2026. This project involved migrating ORF's news and radio production at the MedienCampus Küniglberg to a fully IP-based environment utilizing SMPTE ST 2110 standards. Furthermore, Broadcast Solutions itself recently delivered its largest contract to date, an eight-vehicle Ultra HD fleet for Turkey’s TRT in June 2026, which implemented a hybrid 12G-SDI and IP architecture.

Market analysis from Coherent Market Insights in March 2026 estimates the global broadcasting solutions market will reach $11.35 billion by the end of the year, with hardware and television segments continuing to lead capital expenditure. However, industry sentiment in 2026 indicates a shift toward stability and cost control. Reports from RGB Broadcasting suggest that SMPTE ST 2110 is now the standard for 78% of new facility builds, making the deep networking expertise held by firms like BFE essential for modern systems integrators competing for national-tier contracts.