NEP Broadcasting Acquires Visions, Premier Independent Mobile Broadcast Services Provider in UK and Europe

NEP Broadcasting Acquires Visions, Premier Independent Mobile Broadcast Services Provider in UK and Europe

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 31 /PRNewswire/ -- NEP Broadcasting, LLC, the leading national provider of outsourced media services critical to the delivery of live sports and entertainment events, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Visions, a UK-based provider of mobile broadcast production facilities, for 17.25 million pounds sterling. Visions was acquired from The Television Corporation plc , a leading supplier of programming to broadcasters worldwide. The Television Corporation and NEP provide services to a number of common clients, including NBC, ESPN and the WWE.

Debra Honkus, President of NEP Supershooters, NEP Mobile Unit Division said, "The acquisition of Visions, the premier independent mobile broadcast services provider in the UK and Europe, provides NEP with an excellent platform for expansion into Europe, the world's second-largest mobile broadcast services market. Led by industry veteran Martin Anderson, Visions is highly regarded by its customers and competitors, and has long-standing contractual relationships with the major networks in the UK and US.

"We look forward to working together as one team to serve our combined customers, including in the support of such major events as the World Cup and The Olympics, which will both take place in Europe in 2006. As Visions closely follows the NEP model and is focused on premium events - particularly live sporting events - integration is expected to be seamless," said Ms. Honkus.

Visions provides mobile broadcast services to major sporting and music events, principally in the UK, as well as in Europe and the Middle East. Its marquee sporting events include English Premier League and Scottish FA Cup soccer for Sky Sports, cricket and horse racing for Channel 4, tennis for NBC and ESPN at Wimbledon and The French Open, summer and winter Olympics for NBC and golf for TV Asahi in Japan.

Martin Anderson, Managing Director of Visions stated, "We are delighted at the prospect of joining forces with NEP. Because our companies share such similar philosophies and goals, the news has been greeted with great enthusiasm from clients and staff alike. This is an excellent platform from which to build a truly unified transatlantic business that will serve the increasingly global nature of our customer's events."

About NEP

Pittsburgh, PA-based NEP Broadcasting provides a wide range of services to the sports and entertainment industries. NEP Supershooters provides remote broadcast facilities, management personnel, and engineering expertise for many of the high-profile television events presented by the sports and entertainment industry in both digital and high-definition formats. NEP also possesses the industry's deepest engineering staff in terms of expertise, creativity and technical savvy. NEP Screenworks, located in Corona, CA (near Los Angeles), is the leading provider of mobile video systems and indoor and outdoor LED screens and video production services. NEP Studios provides television production studio facilities in New York City. Apax Partners and Spectrum Equity Investors are majority owners of the company. Additional information on NEP is available at http://www.nepinc.com/ .

Contact:
Terence M. Brady
800-444-0054
terenceb@nepinc.com


Source: NEP Broadcasting, LLC

CONTACT: Terence M. Brady of NEP, +1-800-444-0054 or
terenceb@nepinc.com

Web site: http://www.nepinc.com/


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