
SVG Sit-Down: NEP UK's Simon Moorhead talks Brexit and Pandemic Challenges to the Mobile Production Truck Business in Europe By Heather McLean, Editor
Friday, October 15, 2021 - 8:33 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Brexit and the pandemic have been two significant pressure points on the outside broadcast businesses over the last 18 months. Here, we talk to Simon Moorhead, managing director at NEP UK Broadcast Services, about how these two major events have affected the way his business now works day to day, and how NEP UK is overcoming these challenges.
What are the key ways in which Brexit is affecting the way you run your business throughout Europe today, and why?
Our overriding mission is always to navigate any and all challenges to deliver the highest quality services to our partners. In this sense, Brexit has become another challenge that we navigate on behalf of our partners.
NEP is a global network, with a sizeable and significant presence throughout Europe, so there is always the ability to harness and leverage our geographic footprint, scale and expertise to deliver in any situation.
However, there are challenges as a consequence of Brexit that NEP UK faces when operating within Europe. An example includes the movement of goods from the UK into Europe and vice versa. We now have the administrative coordination and added expenses of carnets and commercial invoices to move equipment around.
We also have reduced flexibility in terms of the shipping of replacement equipment. The ability to move equipment from various separate projects within Europe becomes more cumbersome when there are no discrete carnets for each separate piece of equipment. This is where we harness and leverage our geographic footprint to provide a more localized broadcast services solution with the associated technical expertise.
The movement of people has also become a new challenge which means that our ability for NEP UK to deliver within Europe requires more coordination. We allocate resources to research, collate accurate information and provide updates and guidance on each location. This takes into consideration identifying the right visas, as most countries will have a wide range of options. The specifics of the job, crew and duration of time in the country are all factors.
Events that have required enhanced coordination include the UEFA European Football Championship, the Women's Tennis Association tournament and Formula One. However, we have been well-supported through clients facilitating sport governing body exemptions and host country support.
What major sporting events that you have recently worked on have been more challenging than they should have been because of Brexit? Why and how, and what was the impact on your role in the production?
In addition to the added requirements for carnets, commercial invoices and visas, it takes additional time to compile information to produce shipping paperwork and customs clearance documentation. However, we have navigated all of these challenges to ensure that we deliver for our partners. NEP is truly a global network, meaning we can access equipment and expertise locally, so an urgent requirement for additional resources, for example, is easily accessed from our local presence.
Is Brexit affecting your bottom line? Is it costing you money or making you money?
The challenges associated with Brexit can produce additional costs to business, for example the increased labour resources to process and administer these new requirements. We now have a greater operations and engineering requirement to prepare and document the equipment manifests for shipping and customs.
In terms of the movement of people, we engage with specialist legal counsel to ensure absolute immigration compliance coupled with the visa requirements. There are multiple visa types and identifying the correct ones is of the utmost importance.
How are Brexit and COVID adding to sustainability issues?
NEP has a clear environmental objective, which we share with our partners. We always consider sustainability in these decisions and what we can do to be environmentally friendly.
In terms of Brexit and its direct correlation to sustainability, NEP and our partners are constantly having to look at other available options such as using local (in country) NEP resources or the option of utilizing our network of NEP Production Centers and NEP Data Centers to facilitate the requirements as a remote production. If we can't facilitate the requirements in a traditional methodology because of the constraints, we have to be innovative and practical in finding or making the solution.
COVID-19 has presented challenges to our mission for environmentally sustainable behaviors. Where we had eradicated single-use plastics on site, we no longer can use communal water fountains. We now utilize Perspex isolation shields within OB truck positions, gallery positions and within the administrative areas; again an unavoidable increase in plastics where we had been eradicating their use.
We also have the new order of PPE and the waste that this produces, for example, PPE masks, sanitization gels, sanitization cleaning wipes, lateral flow tests and associated items. These items require us to put further thought into recycling, but this is all part of NEP's overall commitment to sustainability.
How will Brexit continue to affect your business going forward? Is this just the way things are now?
As a business, we have had to adapt and navigate to continue to deliver and serve our partners' needs. That's not going to change. I believe that this will continue to be the new normal for the UK post- Brexit and we are positioned to continue to navigate it. If there is a simplification of the systems and procedures for the movement of goods and people that would help significa
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
18/09/2025
DirecTV continues to expand its women's sports offerings by adding Sports Fanatics' and Whoopi Goldberg's Free Ad-Supported Television (FAST) All Wo...
18/09/2025
WASHINGTON NextGen TV viewers are beginning to see what high dynamic range (HDR) brings to their football enjoyment with the launch of the sport's fall seas...
18/09/2025
WASHINGTON After issuing audit letters seeking Equal Employment Opportunity data from a randomly selected group of TV and radio stations in August, the Federal ...
18/09/2025
NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery and Nielsen have signed a new, long-term, multi-year deal that covers measurement for all Warner Bros. Discovery platforms acros...
18/09/2025
NEW YORK As part of its ongoing efforts to develop better measurement solutions, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) announced the launch of t...
18/09/2025
IRVING, Texas Following threats from the Federal Communications Commission and the announcement that the nations largest station group, Nexstar Media Group, wou...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 2 - Manufacturers Offer Extensive Online Learni...
17/09/2025
Tech Focus: Audio Training, Part 1 - A1 Shortage Remains a Major-League Challeng...
17/09/2025
It was the ultimate convergence of pop culture and literary prestige: Last night, Dua Lipa brought her Service95 Book Club podcast to the stage for a special li...
17/09/2025
During August, streaming's share of TV viewing in Mexico showed an increase of 0.4% compared to the previous month, accounting for 25% of TV viewing.
Discl...
17/09/2025
CYPRESS, Calif. FOR-A America has named Jo Aun as senior manager of product engineering, a new role responsible for guiding the planning, development and rollou...
17/09/2025
PlayBox Neo, in partnership with CIS Group, a leading provider of media and broadcast technology solutions, has successfully deployed PlayBox Neo's Dual Cha...
17/09/2025
In a relationship that mirrors societal advances in sustainability, Brightline Lighting and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Headquarters have en...
17/09/2025
Clear-Com is proud to support the world-class productions of Alley Theatre, one of the oldest and largest nonprofit resident theatres in the United States. With...
17/09/2025
Arch Platform Technologies (www.archpt.io), a pioneer in automated, scalable cloud infrastructure for high-performance workflows, today announced a Strategic Co...
17/09/2025
Over 300 selected decision-makers from start-ups, corporates, and VC funds worldwide will gather for the third edition of the event, united by a single goal: to...
17/09/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, is excited to announce that its flagship Vantage platform and its next-generation AI capabilities re...
17/09/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions that profitably connect the right content to the right audience, proudly announces its three Best of Show...
17/09/2025
In a move to further establish a firm foothold across South East Asia, PlayBox Neo, the well-respected name in broadcast playout and channel branding, has appoi...
17/09/2025
Wisycom, a global leader in advanced wireless audio solutions, announced two major wireless solutions at IBC 2025 (Stand 8.D30). This includes the Portable RF-o...
17/09/2025
Six Berklee Alumni Win Emmy Awards The recipients were recognized for their contributions to acclaimed programs Severance, The Studio, The Penguin, SNL50: The...
17/09/2025
Applications Open for Berklee in Santo Domingo The weeklong contemporary music program will run January 5-10, 2026.
By
Colette Greenstein
September 17, 2025
...
17/09/2025
Ukrainian Students Find Creative Consonance' at Berklee Valencia Through ELIA's UAx Platform, six students from Kyiv joined Berklee Valencia for a week...
17/09/2025
Earlier this year Avid announced Kenna Hilburn as its new senior vice president of product. Recently Hilburn was promoted to Avids new Chief Product Officer, su...
17/09/2025
Transatlantic collaboration combines experience and agility to drive innovation in network design and delivery
Luxembourg, September 16, 2025 - SES, a leading ...
17/09/2025
NEW YORK Madhive has announced that the Fox Television Stations have joined its Live Sports Marketplace....
17/09/2025
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Sony Electronics has announced that it is partnering with the Newhouse School at Syracuse University to provide state-of-the-art equipment, hands...
17/09/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced that the first smart projector using its Roku TV operating system, the Aurzen Roku TV Smart Projector D1R Cube, is now avail...
17/09/2025
Today's creators are equal parts entertainer, producer and gamer, juggling game commentary, scene changes, replay clips, chat moderation and technical troub...
17/09/2025
Wednesday 17 September 2025
UK artists capture icons of stage and screen, inclu...
17/09/2025
Jo Returns to FOR-A as Senior Manager of Product Management and Engineering...
17/09/2025
For the Moon Safari anniversary tour, AIR opened the doors to their backstage. Just a few hours before the Paris concert, DPA met with two key figures of the te...
17/09/2025
Auditions will be held in Dublin, Cork and Galway
The County Parade returns f...
16/09/2025
SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe UConn grad rose from ESPN's mailroom to become one of its most valuable ops leadersBy Bran...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amst...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Sunday, September 14, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026 By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 10:15...
16/09/2025
VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate G...
16/09/2025
ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising C...
16/09/2025
IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From th...
16/09/2025
Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...
16/09/2025
A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...
16/09/2025
Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...
16/09/2025
At DSEI 2025, James Dunne of L3Harris Maritime UK chaired a panel on aligning the supply chain to the warfighter, where leaders discussed modernising support fo...
16/09/2025
Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...
16/09/2025
College Football Scores Top Telecast in August with 16M+ Viewers on FOX, Followe...