Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

EMG, Gravity Media announce merger

11/01/2024

The new entity, which is yet to be named, will include more than 100 outside broadcast trucks and flypacks and 40 studios and production facilities

By Jenny Priestley

Published: January 11, 2024 Updated: January 15, 2024

The new entity, which is yet to be named, will include more than 100 outside broadcast trucks and flypacks and 40 studios and production facilities

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>

The boards of EMG and Gravity Media have announced the completion of a definitive agreement to combine their businesses.

The combination of the two companies creates one of the world's largest broadcast technology and production organisations.

The new entity, which is yet to be named, will include more than 100 outside broadcast trucks and flypacks and 40 studios and production facilities across Europe, the Middle East, United States, and Australia.

It will also have 30 offices across 12 countries, with a total of 2,000 permanent employees and access to a global network of freelance personnel.

The new entity will be led by Shaun Gregory, the current CEO of EMG, as its global chief executive officer. John Newton, founder, CEO and majority shareholder of Gravity Media, will serve as executive chairman.

Speaking to TVBEurope as part of a media briefing, Newton and Gregory revealed the deal was officially signed before Christmas and has passed all regulatory hurdles.

The two companies first began discussing the merger pre-Covid, added Newton, and resumed negotiations last year.

This is a non-cash transaction, which is why it's a merger, he added. It takes the best of both businesses. There is a scale difference. The EMG business is bigger than the Gravity Media business, but all of the existing Gravity Media and EMG stakeholders are now in the new combination.

The merger provides a much bigger and more stable company in an environment in an industry that's been through some difficult times, added Gregory.

Asked what it means for staff, Newton said he doesn't see much crossover between the two businesses. One of the reasons for doing the deal is that the geographic markets are quite separate, he added.

Gravity Media has a big position in APAC, a bigger position in the US than EMG. Obviously, we have some overlap in the UK but Gravity's UK business provides slightly different services to EMG. There's a good story for the aggregation of those services from glass to eyeball as such. We're production and content, and media services and facilities. So that's a combination of creative elements and also technical elements as well.

In terms of geography in the UK, Newton said he expects that in time all of the new entity's production staff will move into Gravity Media's White City production centre, while the OB trucks and back-off staff will likely move to one single location, if a location that can accommodate the scale of what's needed can be found .

We're always looking to improve, optimise and have an efficient business, added Newton. So just because there's a merger, there doesn't always have to be fallout from that.

If you look at our industry, generally, all of our competitors are suffering from the same challenges that we have. Hopefully, those bad days are behind us and we're going to start to see credit markets settle, inflation coming back under control, and that's going to drive a growth phase. We want to take the best of the services that we have globally, offer them to our current markets plus new markets, which will mean we'll be looking for more staff in those areas where we don't work.

According to Gregory, the merger allows the new entity to aggregate component parts of both businesses, enabling it to offer customers more services. This industry is not behind the times, but I think it's not mature, and there's an opportunity to take a more proactive role, he explained.

There's a kind of gap in the market for an Amazon of this sector, a truly digitised business that connects both people and customers around the world. There's a real opportunity for someone to step in and provide that real customer-facing point where you can just do something differently.
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/emg-gravity-media-announce-merger...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

04/08/2024

Dalet Appoints Santiago Solanas as CEO to Lead Next Era of Growth and Innovation

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....

26/07/2024

Talking Story and Building Community: A Conversation With Indigenous Program Alumni and Advisor Bryson Chun

by Ianeta Le'i I honestly don't remember the first time I met Bryson Ch...

26/07/2024

Magical Moments and Letting Your Brain Free: A Conversation With Lisa Steen, Director of Late Bloomers

(L-R) Louise (Karen Gillan) and Antonina (Margaret Sophie Stein) strike up an un...

26/07/2024

Check Out Our Updated Songs of Summer Predictions (Complete With Five New Wild Card Picks)

Last month, Spotify's annual Songs of Summer predictions made their return, ...

26/07/2024

Go for the Gold This Summer With These Sports-Themed Audiobooks and Podcasts

Summer is peak season for some of our favorite sports and events. Whether you're rooting for the home team at the ballpark or cheering for your country as i...

26/07/2024

Congratulations to newly trained specialists at SGL Carbon

Nine talented young professionals completed their vocational training at SGL Carbon in Meitingen from the beginning of June to mid-July, achieving an overall gr...

26/07/2024

L3Harris Technologies Reports Strong Second Quarter 2024 Results, Increases 2024 Guidance

Orders1 of $5.2 billion; book-to-bill of 1.0x Revenue of $5.3 billion, up 13% ...

26/07/2024

Scripps Incident Management Planning Minimizes CrowdStrike Disruptions

(Editor's note: TVTech reached out to several station groups to determine the impact of the CrowdStrike outage on operations. Many, including NextStar Media...

26/07/2024

Bitcentral Integrates Pixalate Analytics Into ViewNexa

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. Bitcentral has integrated Pixalate's ad fraud protection, privacy and compliance analytics solution Post-Bid Analytics and Reporting i...

26/07/2024

For Content Creators, AI Makes It a Whole New World

Aldous Huxley's classic novel Brave New World is a science fiction thriller set in a murky future with a highly ordered society. While Huxley and other sc...

26/07/2024

Hollyland Adds Pyro 7 All-in-one Video Monitor, TX and RX to Pyro Series

Hollyland Adds Pyro 7 All-in-one Video Monitor, TX and RX to Pyro Series Brie Clayton July 26, 2024 0 Comments Seven-inch 2.4/5GHz wireless monitor wi...

26/07/2024

Geddy Lee Asks Are Bass Players Human Too? Graded Using DaVinci Resolve Studio

Geddy Lee Asks Are Bass Players Human Too? Graded Using DaVinci Resolve Studio Brie Clayton July 26, 2024 0 Comments Blackmagic today announced that t...

26/07/2024

61% of CTV Advertisers Plan To Increase Spending: Survey

Another reminder of the popularity of ad-supported connected TV comes in a survey by Premion and Advertiser Perceptions which found that 61% of the marketers th...

26/07/2024

Nielsen's Gracenote Gets Into Contextual Ad Game

Nielsen's Gracenote unit said it is selling its metadata about the content of television shows and movies for use in targeting connected-TV advertising camp...

26/07/2024

Cedric the Entertainer Featured in CBS Special 13 Days in Ferguson'

CBS premieres 13 Days in Ferguson, a special about the aftermath of a police shooting of a young Black man in 2014, on Friday, August 9. The special features Ce...

26/07/2024

Disney+, Hulu, Max Bundle Launches

Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced the launch of their long-awaited premium streaming bundle for the United States. For $16.99 per month, subscribers w...

26/07/2024

Anton/Bauer powers up cinematic production with VCLX LI 1600

It provides multi-voltage output (14.4V, 28V, and 48V) through two XLR4 outputs and one XLR3, offering power to cameras, monitors, and lighting equipment By Je...

26/07/2024

Paramount, Skydance deal faces court challenge

The lawsuit submitted by investor Scott Baker claims the deal would cost Paramount shareholders $1.65 billion By Jenny Priestley Published: July 26, 2024 ...

26/07/2024

Video Village Miami Taps AJA Io4K Plus for On-set Assist

Florida-based Video Village Miami provides on-set video assist for local commercials and music videos. Frank Collins established the outfit in 2019 after a 20-y...

26/07/2024

QuickLink StudioPro 4K Video Production Platform to Make...

QuickLink, the leading global provider of multi-camera video productions and remote contribution solutions, will present QuickLink StudioPro at IBC 2024 (Stand ...

26/07/2024

Relo Metrics Announces Innovative Approach to In-Venue An...

Relo Metrics (formerly GumGum Sports), the leading AI-powered sponsorship analytics platform for real-time data decisions, today launched an industry-leading in...

26/07/2024

AntonBauer Launches VCLX LI 1600Wh Multi-Voltage Battery...

Anton/Bauer, a leading provider of mobile power systems for the film and television industry, has announced the launch of the VCLX LI 1600. The latest evolution...

26/07/2024

ViewNexa by Bitcentral integrates Pixalate Analytics to s...

Bitcentral, the leading provider of professional media solutions for broadcast and digital video, today announces that it has integrated Pixalate, the ad fraud ...

26/07/2024

Cobalt Iron Expands Access to Secure Automated Backup Wit...

Cobalt Iron Inc., a leading provider of SaaS-based enterprise data protection, today announced that Secure Automated Backup with Compass , a cloud backup-as-a-s...

26/07/2024

VisualOn Sets New Standards in Video Streaming Efficiency...

VisualOn IBC2024 Exhibitor Preview Sept. 13-16 Amsterdam Stand 5.A52 As video streaming consumption surges, service providers face significant challenges wi...

26/07/2024

Quanteec to Showcase More Sustainable and Cost-Effective...

Quanteec IBC2024 Exhibitor Preview Sept. 13-16 RAI Amsterdam Stand 1.A05 Quanteec, a global provider of video delivery technology for broadcasters, will s...

26/07/2024

Witbe to Unveil New Mobile Automation for Video App Testi...

Witbe IBC2024 Exhibitor Preview Sept. 13-16 Amsterdam Stand 5.F84 At IBC2024, Witbe will showcase the power of its automated testing and proactive monitori...

26/07/2024

FCC Launches New Mobile Speed Test App

WASHINGTON, D.C. The Federal Communications Commission has announced the launch of its new Mobile Speed Test app. The new app features an enhanced user interfac...

26/07/2024

Alibaba Cloud, OBS Launch AI-Fueled OBS Cloud 3.0 for Paris Olympics

LONDON In a notable landmark for the use of cloud-based services at the Olympics, Alibaba Cloud and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), has today announced the...

26/07/2024

WNBA Returns to NBCU with 11 Year Deal

NEW YORK As part of a $2.5 billion media rights deal with the NBA announced on July 24, NBCUniversal and the NBA have also announced an 11-year agreement for ri...

26/07/2024

What Role Does VVC Have in the Future of Over-the-Air TV?

BEAVERTON, Ore. Versatile Video Coding (VVC) promises to play a pivotal role in driving advancements in video compression technology, with organizations across ...

26/07/2024

PurpleTV Expands into Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio The political news channel PurpleTV has expanded it reach with news that it has launched on Channel 25.1 in Columbus, Ohio on TV Station WXOH, wh...

26/07/2024

Nielsen's Gracenote Enters Contextual CTV Ad Business

NEW YORK As part of a push into the contextual advertising business, Nielsen's Gracenote has announced that it is developing new contextual categories to gi...

26/07/2024

Puget Systems Returns to SIGGRAPH 2024 to Demonstrate its On-Premises Generative AI and Machine Learning Custom Server

Puget Systems Returns to SIGGRAPH 2024 to Demonstrate its On-Premises Generative...

26/07/2024

Dreamtek Delivers Innovative A/V, Live Production and Post Workflows with Blackmagic Design

Dreamtek Delivers Innovative A/V, Live Production and Post Workflows with Blackm...

26/07/2024

From Opening Ceremony to Daily Coverage: CBC and WRAL-TV are In the Zone for the Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are about to begin, and Capitol Broadcasting is rea...

26/07/2024

Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2024 Emmy Awards

Berklee Alumni Nominated for 2024 Emmy Awards Twenty-one Berklee alumni received Emmy nominations this year for music composition, sound mixing, and sound editi...

26/07/2024

Jennifer Lyons Takes on Regional GM Role With Oversight of CBS-Owned WBBM Chicago and WWJ Detroit

Jennifer Lyons, president and general manager of WBBM Chicago, is moving into a ...

26/07/2024

Kennan Oliphant Named VP of News and Station Manager at WWJ Detroit

Kennan Oliphant has been named VP of news and station manager at WWJ Detroit. He will report to Jennifer Lyons, who has added a regional GM role that gives her ...

26/07/2024

Review: Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose' (HBO)

Charlie Hustle & The Matter of Pete Rose, a four-part docuseries, debuts on HBO and Max July 24. The series details the life of the baseball superstar, includin...

26/07/2024

Unlocking Local TV Advertising Opportunities for Local Businesses During the 2024 Paris Olympics

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games present a unique and exciting opportunity for local...

26/07/2024

Paris 2024: Vvaro Providing Live Media Transport Services for Leading International Broadcasters

Paris 2024: V varo Providing Live Media Transport Services for Leading Internati...

26/07/2024

Paris 2024: BBC Sport on Its Remote Production Workflow for the Summer Games

Paris 2024: BBC Sport on Its Remote Production Workflow for the Summer Games By Heather McLean, SVG Europe Friday, July 26, 2024 - 7:31 am Print This Story...

26/07/2024

Paris 2024: BBC Sport Unveils the Olympic Storytelling and Breathtaking Scenery of the City of Dreams

Paris 2024: BBC Sport Unveils the Olympic Storytelling and Breathtaking Scenery ...

26/07/2024

Paris 2024: Taking a Step Forwards with BBC Sport's Olympic Studio Combining Real and Virtual Worlds

Paris 2024: Taking a Step Forwards with BBC Sport's Olympic Studio Combining...

26/07/2024

Paris 2024: Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe Provides a First Look at Its Olympic Studios

Paris 2024: Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe Provides a First Look at Its Ol...

26/07/2024

Live From Paris 2024: NBC Olympics Set for Historic Opening Ceremony

Live From Paris 2024: NBC Olympics Set for Historic Opening Ceremony Unilateral coverage builds on impressive OBS production as NBC dives deep into Team USA cov...

26/07/2024

Live From Paris 2024: SVG's Onsite Editorial Team Breaks Down Opening Ceremony Logistics, Tech Workflows

Live From Paris 2024: SVG's Onsite Editorial Team Breaks Down Opening Ceremo...

26/07/2024

True-crime documentary, The Body Next Door to launch on Sky Documentaries and NOW on Sunday, 11 August

True-crime documentary, The Body Next Door to launch on Sky Documentaries and NO...