NEP Plays Key Role During NBA, NHL Playoffs

NEP is in the midst of another successful and busy hockey and basketball playoff season, providing simultaneous mobile broadcasting services for the media companies presenting the Stanley Cup and the NBA Championship playoffs. For the NHL, NEP is supporting NBC Sports Group’s live broadcasts of all playoff games. For the NBA, NEP is supporting two major national cable networks. For both playoff series, NEP is also providing support to several regional networks.

The spring playoff season is one of the year’s busiest times for NEP, which must ensure that the right vehicles, equipment, and engineers arrive on schedule to cover games in cities and venues that are often determined only hours before by the outcome of the previous game. NEP must work to meet the varying needs of its national and regional clients while ensuring coverage for other high-profile events that happen during the period — such as this year’s Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont horse races, also for NBC Sports Group; the U.S. Open golf championship; and national and regional baseball games.

Such an effort requires a tremendous amount of planning, coordination, and communication. NEP is uniquely positioned to meet the challenge with its seasoned logistics and support staff, some of the industry’s best engineers, and the world’s largest pool of broadcast resources. With more than 60 HD production trucks worldwide that can be deployed at a moment’s notice, NEP is able to provide high-quality facilities and services for large numbers of simultaneous productions and multiple clients. NEP also actively engages its national and regional mobile broadcasting partners to ensure that the right facilities will be in place at the right time. This strategy enables NEP to be nimble enough to accommodate game cancellations and makeups due to weather and other unforeseen events.

For NBC Sports Group’s NHL playoff coverage, NEP has deployed its ND5, ND6, SS28, and NCP8 mobile broadcasting units, with its ND4, SS18, SS22, SS23, SS25, and Corplex Chromium units reserved for the NBA playoffs. By positioning fleets of trucks on both the U.S. East and West coasts, NEP is able to stage and position them to reach the cities that have the best probability of hosting the next series of games.

“Year after year, we’re able to pull off one of the most impressive juggling acts in sports broadcasting, and we always deliver. This is because no other mobile broadcasting company can provide the breadth and depth of resources we offer on a nationwide scale, and also because of the unparalleled commitment and dedication of our staff,” says Mike Werteen, senior vice president of sales and client services for NEP. “As a result, we’ve built a strong level of trust with our broadcasting and cable clients, who know we’ll be able to offer high-quality, reliable, and innovative services for some of the year’s most watched sports events.”