When NBC’s breakout hit The Biggest Loser decided to replace all of its elliptical machines, it assessed several fitness-equipment companies before selecting Medway, Massachusetts-based Cybex as its fitness partner.

Known primarily as a premium manufacturer of exercise equipment for commercial use, teaming up with Loser brings the Cybex brand into more than 12 million homes in 90 countries around the world starting September 21, 2010 on NBC.

Besides outfitting the Biggest Loser ranch, where contestants work out and live for four months at a time, with 60 pieces of strength and cardio machines, the multiyear deal also calls on Cybex to supply fitness equipment to the Biggest Loser resorts, set to open a new location in Malibu, California, this year.

“This partnership validates to the world that we’re a premium brand,” says Larry Gulko, chief marketing officer at Cybex. Trainers Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper, who scream, push, and motivate contestants to exercise as many as eight hours a day, “could have selected any brand out there. Knowing they felt ours was the top contender meant a lot to our brand equity,” Gulko adds.

The deal comes at a good time for the company, which posted revenue of $34.8 million in 2009, a decline of 12 percent from $39.3 million in 2008. While it doesn't reveal market share, the company is ranked in the top-three brands of exercise-equipment manufacturers. John Aglialoro, chairman and CEO, said that while the company will focus on its fitness-club customers, “we will continue to make cost-effective investments to reach these markets, which we believe will generate profitable incremental sales in the years to come.”

With the Biggest Loser on board, the company is at a crossroads. The exposure that comes with such a pairing could mean millions of dollars if leveraged correctly. So it’s no surprise that Cybex is finally actively reaching out to the consumer market with its Biggest Loser Arc Trainer, the first product made specifically with the home consumer in mind.

“It’s time for us to start offering home products,” says Gulko. “We don’t have a separate consumer division, but we’re in the process of creating a whole new Biggest Loser-branded line that includes a bike and a treadmill."

Yet, with a price hovering around $3,000 per machine, the upcoming line isn’t exactly within reach for the show’s average viewer. The cost structure is tied to the company’s beginnings, when it was a medical-equipment manufacturer. Cybex first ventured into the fitness market in 1981 when it saw sales at its medical department slump. It found success relatively quickly by appealing to commercial clients who valued the company's background.

But Cybex's commitment to manufacturing products that limit injury is an expensive pursuit. “We can’t just put something out there because it’s cool,” says Ray Giannelli, senior vice president of Research and Development for Cybex. “Our mentality is evidenced-based. That means the marketing department can’t put a claim in a brochure if it hasn’t been proven true.”