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| Company Name: | Pye TVT Ltd | ||
| Pye Group Division: | Radio Communications & Broadcasting | ||
| Site Location(s): | 1946-1958: Manufacturing and development Laboratory at Haig Road | ||
| 1959-1963: Manufacturing at York Street | |||
| 1963-1987: Development and Manufacturing at Coldhams Lane | |||
| First/Last Address: | P.O. Box 41, Coldhams Lane, Cambridge CB1 3JU | ||
| Date Formed/Acquired: | Pre-war, part of Pye Ltd | ||
| In late 1940s was the TV Transmission Division of Pye Ltd | |||
| Pye TVT Ltd. was established as an independent Pye Group ‘A’ company in April 1960. | |||
| Date Merged/Sold/Closed: | Absorbed by Philips Electronics Industries UK in 1971. Studio Division closed in 1986, Transmission Division sold to Varian 20 March 1987, later sold to Harris Broadcast Corp of USA in 1991. | ||
| Field of Activity: | Development and manufacturing of sound and television broadcasting equipment and systems worldwide. OEM products were also marketed in Systems. The product range included equipment for complete broadcasting studios, transmitting stations and outside broadcast vehicles. Closed circuit television equipment was also produced with a range of specialised products for nuclear CCTV applications. A full range of professional tape recorders was also marketed for sound and television broadcast studios and multi-channel requirements of airports. Sales Office for the Flight Simulator activity using Philips products. | ||
| Later became the main Product Division of Philips with management of three centres in USA, (Cameras at Montvale) Netherlands (Cameras at Breda) and Cambridge (Studio and Transmission Systems). | |||
| Markets/Customers Served: | State, national and independent television and radio broadcasters and industrial users of CCTV etc. worldwide | ||
| Products/Services Supplied: | Broadcasting Equipment, Audio Amplifiers, Audio Mixing and Switching Equipment, Caption Scanning Equipment, C.C.T.V. range of equipment, Colour Studio Cameras, Compression Amplifiers, Control Switches and Signal Units, Distribution Amplifiers, High Speed Tape Duplicators, Instrumentation Recorders, Loudspeakers Low Power UHF/UHF Transposers, Microphones and Accessories, Modular Audio Mixers, Monochrome & Colour Monitors, Monochrome & Colour Telecine, Monochrome Studio Cameras, Multi-Channel Communication Recorders, Professional Audio Equipment, Pre-Amplifier Modules, Slaving Units, Sound and Television Outside Broadcasting Units, Studio Tape Recorders (Console & Desk Mounting), Synchronising Pulse Generators, Transcription Units, Transmitters Television VHF 50W to 17.5KW Bands I & III, UHF up to 110KW. Transmitters Radio FM, Tropospheric Scatter Amplifiers, Transmitters Television UHF 10W to 55KW, Transposers Television UHF/UHF 1W to 1KW, Radio Frequency Co-axial Equipment, Vision Mixing and Switching Equipment, Video Waveform Monitors | ||
| Key Products: | 1950s | Mk 111 Image Orthicon Broadcast Camera | |
| 1950s | Staticon Telecine | ||
| 1956: | 20KW Band 111 TV Transmitter for ITA at Lichfield | ||
| 1969: | First Colour Outside broadcast Vehicle for the BBC | ||
| 1980: | 15KW UHF Transmitter | ||
| Subsidiaries/Divisions/Departments: | Sub Divisions: - | ||
Studio equipment & cameras | |||
Transmitters | |||
Outside broadcast | |||
CCTV | |||
| Company Statistics (1982): | Annual Sales Turnover: | £27.5M | |
| Profit before tax etc | £0.47M | ||
| Total Employees: | 531 | ||
| Employees at this location: | 531 | ||
| Contract Employees | 48 | ||
| Known Managerial Staff: | Directors at Pye TVT Company inception: | ||
C.A.W. Harmer | |||
Hon. R.N. Frankland | |||
N.A. Twemlow | |||
L.W. Jones | |||
T.G. MacLagan | |||
| Executive Directors: | |||
A.J. Bennett | |||
L.W. Germany | |||
D. Jackson | |||
E.C. Milton | |||
F.R. Shelton | |||
A.R. Stone | |||
| Management Team at Philips broadcast Company (1980-1984) | |||
R King (MD) | |||
G H Jackson | |||
M Buxton | |||
P J Lance | |||
T McGann | |||
A J Bennet | |||
R J G Ellis | |||
M Gaisford | |||
| Key Achievements or Milestones: | First UK operational colour TV studio equipment circa 1948 | ||
| Sale of complete TV broadcast studio to Columbia Broadcasting System, New York, 1953 | |||
| Sale of TV transmitters to Greece, Mount Olympus (photos in PTHC archives), Malta etc. | |||
| Major turnkey projects in Oman, Indonesia and Sweden | |||
| Queens Award for Exports | |||
| Other Information: | Privately published book: The Pye TVT Story by Richard Ellis in 2010 and available from the Cambridge Library. | ||
| See TV cameras at:- http://www.tvcameramuseum.org/pye/pyethumb.htm | |||
| Also http://www.marcelstvmuseum.com/philips%20pye%20tvt%20limited%2001.html | |||
| Company Time Line: | 1946: | Post WW11 Department 24 set up to manufacture and design Broadcast TV Equipment at main Pye Haig Road Factory Site. | |
| 1958: | Manufacturing moved to York Street Cambridge and Labs remain at Haig Road | ||
| 1960: | Pye Ltd established Pye TVT as the ‘A’ Company for television broadcast products | ||
| 1961: | CCTV development and manufacturing was transferred to PTC and sales handled by PBS in Cromwell Road. Nuclear energy business retained at TVT | ||
| 1963: | Manufacturing and development moved to the old Pye Woodcraft Products site at Coldhams Lane Cambridge. | ||
| 1970: | Philips transferred their transmitter business from Hilversum and PTAB (VHF Transmitters) to TVT. Also the Philips studio activity at Weybridge was moved to TVT. | ||
| 1971: | Philips integrated Pye TVT into their Broadcast Activity. Pye TVT became the Broadcast Centre for Philips with plants in Breda (Holland) Montvale (USA) and Cambridge | ||
| 1981: | Pye TVT received the Queens Award for Export Achievements | ||
| 1986: | Studio Division closed down by Philips and activity centred in Germany and Holland | ||
| 1987: | Transmitter activity sold to Varian | ||
| 1993: | Harris Broadcast bought company and moved to Huntingdon where after a time it was closed down. | ||
| Document Sources: | Richard Ellis, Bob Bates, Richard Howes, PTHC and Pye History Trust archives | ||
| Document version: | v1 | Sections 1-14 draft compiled by R J Howes 8 November 2013 | |
| v2 | Section 15 above provided by Richard Ellis/Bob Bates 25th September 2013 | ||
| v3 | Compiled by R. J. Howes from modifications by Richard Ellis 30 May 2014 | ||
| v4 | Compiled by R. J. Howes to modified profile format suitable for web site | ||
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