SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—New Zealand’s NZ Live—an Auckland-based, independent playout, outside broadcast and studio provider—has been acquired by NEP Group, a Pittsburgh-based provider serving the broadcast services, live events and media solutions markets.
With this acquisition, NEP gains a foothold into the New Zealand broadcasting market and strengthens its position as a global technical production partner supporting premier live sports and entertainment producers.
NZ Live, which will be rebranded as NEP, will now work closely with NEP’s Australia division, and the current owners—Ray Standidge, Tony Parton and Roger Randle—will stay on as part of the business for two years. Oliver Pitkin continues as GM reporting to Soames Treffry, President of NEP Australia. “This acquisition gives us ready access to the entire New Zealand broadcasting market and an opportunity to work directly with New Zealand’s broadcasters and national sporting organizations,” Treffry said.
[Read: NEP Australia Deploys Lawo Tech At IP Production Hubs]
NZ Live operates four television studios and two outside broadcast mobile units, and provides 24/7 multi-channel playout, outside broadcasting and studio production services to clients throughout the region.
“New Zealand has historically been its own market with distinct ways of doing business,“ said Ray Standidge, Director, NZ Live. “As part of NEP, we enhance our local know-how with immediate access to the latest international sports broadcasting trends and distribution models. That means we’ll provide clients with a much broader array of services from the world’s industry leader.”
NZ Live is one of many companies that NEP Group has acquired in the last few years. In June 2016, NEP Group acquired Broadcast Solutions Group—now NEP Broadcast Solutions—a remote production services provider serving the Pan Asian region. In August 2015, NEP acquired Consolidated Media Industries (CMI), in Hilversum, Netherlands. And in August 2017, the company acquired Bexel Global Broadcast Services, in Burbank, CA, which provides broadcast systems and equipment rentals for the sports, entertainment and live event production markets.
NEP’s services include remote production, studio production, audiovisual solutions, host broadcast support, premium playout, post production and innovative software-based media management solutions. NEP Group has supported productions in over 85 countries on all seven continents.
