Broadcast Facilities Inc. Rebrands as One-Stop Shop

In January, Crawford Communications became a part of Broadcast Facilities Inc., expanding its menu of services for clients. This week, BFI rebranded as Encompass Digital Media Inc., uniting BFI’s Andrita Media Center in Los Angeles and Crawford Communications in Atlanta under one identity. The new company is working diligently to reeducate its clients about its core competencies.

“Our key here is, we’re not just a transportable division,” says Greg Jennings, VP of transportables and production services for Encompass Digital Media. “We’re a one-stop shop under one roof. After talking with us, our clients realize that they’re able to get everything they need done under one roof instead of going to three or four different entities. It’s an educational process, on our end, to showcase all of this technology in one place.”

Both the Andrita Media Center and Crawford’s Atlanta hub are well-established facilities recognized for providing premier services to television networks, station groups, corporations, and government entities.

“In many ways, there’s a preconceived notion as to what a lot of our old clients saw us as,” Jennings says. “This new name and the new branding gives us a fresh new outlook as to where we’re headed. There are new expectations. In the past, we were trying to keep up with the pack. We’ve gone into this race leading the pack.”

Says Encompass CEO Simon Bax, “Prior to merging, Broadcast Facilities Inc. and Crawford Communications had each earned their places as leaders in this highly competitive industry by providing services backed by a wealth of industry knowledge and experience. Moving forward as Encompass Digital Media not only signifies the next exciting chapter for our company, but the new name captures the extensive range of services we now offer.”

Home to more than 180 TV networks, Encompass operates two of the largest broadcast facilities in the U.S. Each location is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and supported by an experienced team. Services include network origination; centralcasting; disaster recovery; satellite and fiber transmission (full-time and occasional-use); satellite uplink trucks; digital-media-encoding services, and production studios.

“We have a pretty large fleet in the transportable division, and we are working diligently and feverishly to upgrade our fleet per our customers’ needs,” Jennings says. “We’re forward-thinking almost into technology that isn’t here yet. We’re taking a very proactive approach to this, having things in place so that we always have a resolution at the ready.”

Encompass clients are major networks and broadcasters, sports leagues, and general-entertainment cable channels. Among them are ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC Universal; DirecTV Sports Networks, ESPN, GolTV, MLB, NASCAR Media Group, NBA, NFL Network, Tennis Channel, and Universal Sports Network; Hallmark, Game Show Network, MGM HD, Sony HD/3D, and TV Guide. Encompass also performs international services for Alterna’TV, Fox Latin American channels, Latin American Pay Television (LAPTV), MGM Networks Latin America, and SkyVision, as well as disaster recovery for BET, Discovery Communications, Scripps Networks and The Weather Channel.

The company’s new Website, www.encompass-m.com, is being created and will be launched in the near future.