NBC Uses NEP Trucks, Engineering Expertise in Winter Olympics Coverage

NEW YORK— NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, is using mobile broadcasting facilities and specialized engineering management services from NEP during its production of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, Feb. 6-23.

NEP will deploy five mobile broadcasting units and two flypacks from its NEP Visions facility in the U.K., as well as all required equipment and engineering staff, to supply feeds to NBC Olympics from several key Olympic venues and events. These include the Fisht Olympic Stadium for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, the Bolshoy Ice Palace and Shayba Arena for ice hockey, the Iceberg Skating Palace for figure skating and short track speed skating, and the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park for freestyle skiing and snowboarding events. In addition, as part of its long-term consulting agreement with NBC Olympics, NEP will provide operational and technical management to the engineering staff at the venues as well as the broadcast center.

"Our relationship with NBC Olympics began with the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, and we have enjoyed a successful and productive partnership for every Winter and Summer Games since then," said Honkus. "Through our long-term agreement with NBC Olympics, we're able to look further into the future to provide cost-effective solutions based on the latest broadcast technologies. We're proud that we can provide the unique technical expertise in producing large, international events and the global resources necessary to meet NBC Olympics' exacting requirements."

Altogether, NEP is deploying more than 40 of its personnel to staff the mobile broadcasting facilities at the venues, and more than 20 to provide operations management and technical consulting in the broadcast center.

Tom Butts

Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the brand’s Tech Leadership events.