Could Brexit affect U.S. broadcast equipment manufacturers and their customers here? What about the potential impact to those, plus engineering consultants, who handle overseas work? Could there be an impact on the TV repack equipment?
RBR+TVBR Weekly Tech Roundup asked a variety of manufacturers and engineering consultants these questions.
Nautel Sales Director Chuck Kelly doesn’t believe there’s too much concern overall among most suppliers here in the U.S. that he’s spoken with. However, manufacturers and those who sell that gear here are watching to see how the Euro and the Pound perform over the long-term. If those decline, that “could change the price competitiveness of North American product versus European competition both as seen in sales within North America and the rest of the world. This has the potential to affect repack market share.”
The volatile reaction from the British public (and politicians) to the vote to leave the E.U. has the attention of manufacturers and suppliers here. “If financial instability for the E.U. or Great Britain increases, the ability of those markets to make capital investments in new equipment may be adversely affected,” he says.
Hatfield & Dawson President Ben Dawson says the most immediate impact is the vote has made the U.S. dollar stronger against various other currencies, making exporting U.S. goods and services harder.
Like his broadcast ownership counterparts have said to us, “it’s important to consider uncertainty as a factor – reluctance to make capital expenditures, and willingness to undertake deferred maintenance are common effects of uncertainty.” However since the U.S. dollar is strong these days, he’s not predicting an immediate impact involving the TV repack, except to except to make European transmitters cheaper for US stations to purchase.
We probably won’t see much of an impact from Brexit, predicts Telos VP Sales, Support & Marketing Marty Sacks. “People have been very careful about their CapX spending” for each year. He notes owners have not been doing “crazy, unnecessary projects,” but rather steer their money toward new gear only when absolutely necessary.
