Brussels, 05/08/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of Pinnacle Systems Inc by Avid Technology Inc. Both are US-based companies active in the digital video products market. Avid is one of the main global producers of digital audio and video software and hardware products targeting the professional media industries. Pinnacle is a manufacturer of digital video products but mainly focuses on consumers and has a limited presence in the professional products market. The Commission's investigation mainly focused on the horizontal effects of the planned operation on the professional non-linear editors market as well as on the possible narrower high-end and the low-end segments of this market, where Avid is the largest market player, but Pinnacle is only present to a small extent. The Commission also examined the possible market for integrated editing systems for newsroom and broadcasting services. It concludes that the operation would not have a negative impact on the above markets given the competitive force in those markets.