SYDNEY—NEP Group has acquired 10 new Sony MLS-X1 Live Switchers, bringing the video production facilities company’s total to 31, Sony said today.

“NEP initially purchased 21 MLS-X1 units to upgrade and expand our current Sydney facility and deploy them in time for last year’s large international sporting competition held across Australia and New Zealand,” said Marc Segar, NEP senior vice president of technology.

The MLS-X1 is part of the Sony Networked Live ecosystem through connected hybrid on-premises and cloud capabilities. 

“The new MLS-X1 Live Switchers are currently being used in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland on a variety of projects, productions and events. This really highlights the versatility and efficiency of the MLS-X1 Live Switchers within NEP's production ecosystem,” said Segar.

“By being able to allocate switcher resources between virtual configurations and seamlessly integrate additional hardware as needed, the MLS-X1 enhances NEP's ability to handle a diverse range of projects and events across multiple locations. Moreover, the native ST-2110 support ensures easy integration into NEP's existing facilities, further streamlining our production workflows. 

NEP is among the leaders producing events that increasingly require additional resources as the use of 4K increases and larger switcher configurations are needed, said Sony.

“The MLS-X1 is easily expanded and allows for efficient use of resources. It can be configured for large global 4K productions or divided into smaller HD productions as required. NEP typically uses an MLS-X1 or multiple MLS-X1s in our Andrews production hubs to manage all the major sports coverage that we produce on a weekly basis,” said Segar.

The MLS-X1 offered several benefits that attracted NEP to the switcher, including its modular approach and scalability, said Sony.

“We love the way we can share resources efficiently across various projects, whether it's a large-scale international sporting event or a smaller, localized production,” said Segar. “The scalability and flexibility of the MLS-X1 Live Switcher align perfectly with NEP's needs, allowing us to adapt to the demands of different projects seamlessly.”

More information from Sony Australia and Sony New Zealand is available online.

SAN ANTONIO—NewTek, part of the Vizrt Group, has announced a partnership with AVA Distribution to broaden NewTek’s presence in Australia and New Zealand.

NewTek says it is expanding its partner portfolio because of “significant uplift in demand” from the proAV markets as video content creation, and video consumption continues to grow exponentially. 

NewTek’s latest partner is AVA Distribution (AVAD), a wholesale distribution company for AV products based in Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia. AVAD represents a wide range of consumer and professional AV products in the region. As a newly named NewTek distribution partner, AVA will help deliver NewTek products to regional customers faster alongside supporting customers with content creation efforts.

“AVAD has a longstanding reputation in ProAV markets in the region and adding NewTek and NDI® streaming solutions offer significant added value to their partners and customers. We are very pleased to add them to our growing partner ecosystem to further position NewTek as a leading and trusted tech vendor in the ANZ region and look forward to our collaboration with AVAD strengthening that position significantly.”

“AVA Distribution is delighted to be chosen by NewTek to distribute its products in Australia. We are now able to offer our Pro AV resellers a complete range of video production solutions to satisfy the growing demand from corporate, education, and government organizations producing professional quality video,” states Santo Pappalardo, Managing Director at AVA Distribution.

BURBANK, Calif.—Disney+ will waste little time rolling out to international markets, as TVT’s sister publication Broadcasting & Cable has reported the Walt Disney Co.’s plans for its new streaming service. Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand will have access to Disney+ as of November, with it launching in Canada and the Netherlands the same day as in the U.S., Nov. 12, and Australia and New Zealand debuting it a week later on Nov. 19.

In addition to launch dates, Disney announced pricing in those countries. For Canada, the streaming service will cost $9.99 in Canadian dollars; €6.99 in the Netherlands; Australians will be able to sign up for $8.99 in Australia dollars; and $9.99 New Zealand dollars in that country. In the U.S., the service will cost $6.99.

Disney says that is has distribution deals with all major platforms to access Disney+ on mobile and connected TVs, including Apple, Google, Microsoft, Xbox One, Sony Android-based TVs, PlayStation 4 and Roku players and TV models.

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.

FLOWER MOUND, TEXAS & SYDNEY—RUSHWORKS is making its way down under as it has announced a new distribution deal with AV Group Technologies for the Australia and New Zealand markets.

PTX Universal PanTilt

One of the RUSHWORKS products that will be marketed by AV Group is the PTX Universal PanTilt Head. The head features full DMX control, is compatible with standalone cameras and camcorders, as well as lighting consoles.

This is a new example of RUSHWORKS’ attempts for global expansion, having previously signed a distribution agreement with Cache Media for the U.K.

STOCKHOLM—Ericsson has been tapped to assist the New Zealand Parliament, signing an exclusive, multi-year access services contract with the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives to remotely deliver live captioning services for Parliament TV. The new captioning service will be available starting in August.

According to David Wilson, clerk of the House of Representatives, one in nine New Zealanders uses captions when watching TV. “As a result, live captioning will enable more people in our communities to be informed about and involved in the work of their Parliament,” Wilson said.

Ericsson reports that this is the first instance that it will provide its captioning services to New Zealand. Throughout the last year, the company has signed multiple deals with stations in New Zealand’s neighbor Australia for captioning services.