NEP Broadcasting has acquired a pair of high-definition production trucks from National Mobile Television, along with the CBS Sports contracts and staff relationships that rode along with them.
The CBS jobs include PGA Tour golf, Masters Golf, NFL regular season and post-season games, NCAA regular season men's basketball games and the NCAA Division 1 Men's Basketball Tournament.
One of the three components of HD12, now purchased by NEP. "It's very significant in that it now puts all of the domestic golf coverage on any cable or broadcast network in our hands," said Lou Borrelli, CEO of NEP. "It was the one piece of that sport that we did not do, and I think that will benefit all of our clients."
The consolidation of technology, staff and resources is especially helpful in golf, with its logistical challenges of multiple cameras and enormous distances.
NEP acquired the HD1 and HD12 trucks from NMT.
Borrelli said NEP will have 25 HD trucks by year's end along with about 16 SD trucks, which see a lot of use with regional networks and the large amount of sporting events that are still not in HD.
The company also just rolled out its new truck, "Summit," a top-flight sports-entertainment hybrid truck, that saw its debut at the "Stand Up to Cancer" fundraising special that aired on NBC, CBS and ABC Sept. 5.
For NMT, the sale of trucks helps it reduce debt and pay attention to its core business of providing facilities to regional sports networks, said Frank Coll, NMT vice president of operations.
The company’s top customers are the New England Sports Network and the Madison Square Garden Network.
NMT will also retain focus on its staffing business, Venue Services Group. That operation has 70 full-time radio and TV technicians working with the United Nations, Coll said.
