Wohler Technologies Inc. has announced it expects to complete the acquisition of Europa Australia Pty Ltd by the end of the month. Led by Elio Deluca, one of the world's pre-eminent experts in the field of closed captioning and data insertion and extraction technologies, Wohler would lay claim to the industry's only platform-based closed captioning system capable of supporting all global standards. The Europa Australia technology is also available to other manufacturers who need to incorporate closed-captioning and extended data service solutions into their systems.

"Europa Australia is known for its ability to provide cost-effective solutions customized to the specific needs of each broadcast client," said Carl J. Dempsey, Wohler president and CEO. "The purchase of Europa Australia positions Wohler as a premier provider of closed-captioning and data control solutions. Through our new relationship with Elio and the Europa Australia engineering team, we will be equipped to respond to the development of closed-captioning standards in any country. This is a fantastic add-on to our existing talented engineering team. It is our ambition to be an extension of our clients' engineering resources and we can only do this is if we invest in the right talent and technology."

Europa Australia was established in 1996 to provide unique and cost-effective high-end solutions for the broadcast industry. The closed-captioning processing technology developed by Europa Australia is compliant with CEA-608/708, the U.S. closed-captioning standard, and with OP:47, the Australian closed-captioning standard.

Wohler already has incorporated this technology into the HDCC-200A HD/SD-SDI dual-channel, closed-caption encoder/decoder bridge, a compact modular solution that simplifies closed-caption encoding of two independent SD and/or HD sources. Availability of this closed-captioning solution in 4D ECard modules enables flexible use in the openGear platform, in turn giving facilities the freedom to invest in processing functionality that meets their operational needs.

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