NEP Broadcasting’s International Events Group (IEG) has teamed up with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) to support U.S. Military personnel stationed in Iraq this holiday season. “A Holiday Tribute to the Troops,” featuring high-profile wrestlers from WWE’s Raw in matches at Camp Victory in Baghdad, was captured using NEP’s state-of-the-art technical equipment for broadcast Christmas night on USA Network. The program, which also highlights handshake tours undertaken by the wrestlers to remote military locations in Iraq, will be broadcast internationally throughout December.
Marking its fourth year in providing the WWE with television broadcast equipment for “A Holiday Tribute to the Troops” and its sixth year as WWE’s exclusive hardware equipment and remote facilities provider, NEP worked with WWE technical personnel in assembling, configuring and packaging teleproduction equipment from NEP Broadcasting’s Pittsburgh, PA headquarters. Once completed, the equipment was shipped to Iraq via modernized and flexible fly pack infrastructure. Gear used for the event included: a Ross Video Synergy 3 with Warp 3D DVE production switchers; a Pro-Bel Freeway Router; seven Sony 700 CCU's; four SONY BVP 950 Hand Held Cameras; three SONY BVP 900 Hard Cameras; eight SONY A-500 DVW Digital Betacam recorders and two Soundcraft K3 24-input mixing consoles.
“What’s nice about our relationship with NEP is that they know our product and they know our company,” said Mike Grossman, senior vice president of television operations for WWE. “We tend to require a lot of flexibility in how we approach things; projects change very quickly and our needs are sometimes challenging for vendors to meet. NEP has the resources and the expertise to assist us in successfully broadcasting our programs to fans across the globe.”
