ChyronHego goes back to just plain old Chyron

ChyronHego is changing its name back to just “Chyron” — but the “Hego” name will live on as a “sub-brand.”

Chyron, which draws its roots from a company called System Resources Corporation founded in 1966, would go on to develop character generator technology it branded as “Chiron,” a nod to a mythological centaur.

The spelling was changed to “Chyron” and the name become widely synonymous with any tool used to insert lower third style graphics on TV screens as well as a way to reference the graphics themselves, even if that station or network in question didn’t use a Chyron backed system.

To this day, that generalized usage continues frequently both inside and outside the broadcast industry — and many people continued to reference the corporation as simply “Chyron” despite the name change. 

The company also debuted a new tagline — “Since day one” — that appears to a be nod to its iconic position in the broadcast industry.

In 2013, the company merged with Swedish Hego and would eventually change its name to ChyronHego. 

It would then buy a majority stake in XYZ Sports Tracking, a Norwegian company and integrated ChyronHego’s existing Tracab sports graphic offering into XYZ’s.

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Effective Feb. 8, 2021, however, the company is going back to its original name for its top-level corporate name, dropping the “Hego” and relegating it to a sub-brand. 

According to the separate websites launched Feb. 8, Hego will provide “best in class production services.” 

“Leveraging both rental services in addition to a skilled pool of experts, we’re dedicated to delivering top-notch operational support with the complexity and cost you’re comfortable with,” its website reads.

Another brand, Tracab, will focus on sports data visualization and video solutions and will also encompass the Coach Paint product as well as player analysis tools.

Chyron will continue to be private and controlled by venture capitalists, led by Apollo Capital Management. 

No executive changes are expected.

The company also introduced a new logo designs. Chryon will uses a bold sans serif with a narrow “tail” in negative in the upper part of the “C.” Hego has a shield like emblem while Tracab’s look has been updated with new typography, though it retained the customized “C” that’s partially cut off by the neighboring “A.”

Since its original character generator offerings were introduced, the TV industry has widely embraced realtime graphics over systems that could only generate characters — and systems from all developers, including Chyron, have become increasingly advanced. 

For example, many older character generators could often only insert text in a handful of pre-set fonts in templates and often were simply placed on top of that imagery.

Character generators are sometimes referred to as “CG” — but many aspects of the technology make it distinct from another “CG”: computer (generated) graphics. 

Now, however, text can be incorporated as part of more complex 3D environments and animations thanks to the rise of realtime graphics.

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Other networks refer to the text-based graphics created by systems developed by Chyron and other firms as “fonts,” “L3s,” “lower thirds,” “insert graphics,” “banners” and other terms.