Cross MediaWorks acquires BlackArrow

Nick Troiano

Media services group Cross MediaWorks has acquired pay TV advertising and data solutions specialist BlackArrow.

BlackArrow customers include  pay TV operators such as Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Charter Communications, Bright House Networks, Rogers Communications, Liberty Global and Virgin Media.

The addition of BlackArrow to the Cross MediaWorks family will expand the types of products and services the company can offer to pay TV operators and advertisers on a worldwide basis, according to the companies. BlackArrow software products enable inventory owners to manage, sell, and optimize their own inventory. Coupled with Cross MediaWorks’ existing media sales via its Cadent Network subsidiary, and creative and advertising services through The Cross Agency, the company is now uniquely able to offer customers a full range of services from self-serve software to fully managed services across all forms of TV inventory.

Nick Troiano, CEO of BlackArrow, will serve as CEO of Cross MediaWorks, and Stephanie Mitchko-Beale, CTO of Cross MediaWorks will assume CTO/COO responsibilities.

Troiano will join Barry Baker and Bob Wright, senior advisors to Lee Equity Partners, on the Board of Directors of Cross MediaWorks, a Lee Equity Partners portfolio company.

“Cross MediaWorks and BlackArrow individually have deep roots in the pay-TV community,” said Joan Gillman, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Media Services for Time Warner Cable and a member of the Board of Directors of BlackArrow. “The integration of BlackArrow into the Cross MediaWorks family will provide operators with the tools and services they need to maximize revenue from their TV inventory, whether that’s traditional linear TV spots or addressable advertising on VOD or OTT platforms.”