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
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
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 
