Presteigne Broadcast Hire Ltd

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Neil Coles joins Presteigne to boost sales
Presteigne Broadcast Hire has appointed Neil Coles as its sales manager. A sales professional, he has a solid history in the studios and post production industries, so clearly understands the challenges and opportunities facing Presteigne’s clients today.
Working for the past three years as a business development consultant, largely with clients in the broadcast and media sector, he has also driven sales at post house Prime Focus in London, fixed-rig specialist Roll to Record, and Pinewood Studios Group where he was primarily responsible for the light entertainment television studios at Teddington.

“Production companies and their facilities are under tremendous pressure at the moment,” said Coles. “On one side they need to produce more content on ever-tighter budgets and with ever-increasing audience expectations. And on the other, there is a continuous stream of new technologies, and judging when best to go for them is not easy.

“I see my role at Presteigne in being the bridge between the two,” he explained. “We have the biggest inventory of rental equipment in the country, and we stay right on the cutting edge with the latest technologies like 4k capture, mesh grid wireless and high density radio microphone systems. Ensuring that our clients get the right equipment and services is going to be at the top of my priorities.”

Mike Ransome, CEO of Presteigne, added “Getting Neil for our team was an important part of our new moves in customer focus, following on from the appointment of David O’Carroll has head of technology. Together, the two will work on explaining and implementing new technologies and our systems and projects capabilities, as well as ensuring that every client gets precisely the equipment they need, when they need it.

“Neil is a great sales professional who understands the television business from top to bottom,” Ransome added. “It is great to have him on board.”

Coles joined the Presteigne staff at the beginning of January 2015.
For all media enquiries please contact Manor Marketing [email protected]

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SVG Europe recently sat down with Presteigne Broadcast Hire CEO Mike Ransome for a frank and wide-ranging conversation about the broadcast equipment rental business.
Presteigne has been through plenty of twists and turns during its 23 years in the market – everyone knows about the acquisition of Charter Broadcasting in 2008 and the subsequent decision to close it earlier this year – and this provided an opportunity to talk about how the business works; the value of ongoing relationships; and the critical role of new technologies such as IP mesh and 4K that ultimately keeps a rental house on top of the game.

Mike we actually know each other from way back before Presteigne ever existed, when you were working for AVS Broadcast in the Eighties. AVS was a standalone standards converter manufacturing company then, if I recall: where did that technology come from?

Yes AVS Broadcast (where the Avesco brand comes from) was the first company. I had seven fabulous years there, as sales director. The two guys who designed the first 8-bit standards converter, John and Trevor, came from the print industry, computerised print. They were very clued-up engineers, and of course print was probably the first industry to move into digital technology ahead of everyone else.

They designed the converter, around which [Avesco Chairman] Richard Murray thought there was a future. He funded it and asked me to run the sales side, which I did for seven years. But in the end you could see that Avesco were not into manufacturing – it was going to be more about services as the group grew. In 1985 the group went public, to raise funds for R&D etc, so AVS Broadcast became isolated and I then left. I went to run the sales operation at Basys newsroom systems for two years.

After that, I was actually helping to run a company that rented test equipment, and they were in some trouble. It was going to go bust – it did go bust and went into receivership. The receiver just phoned me one day and asked could I help him, as he knew nothing about the equipment. So I went back, helped him, and in the end raised the money and bought the stock. And that’s how this business started as Presteigne. I needed a company name quickly and Presteigne was the only one available – and it stuck!

This was the early 90s and recession time, and I had a young family. It was a tough time; banks wanted you to sign your life away and give your house up and so on for a £10k overdraft. Then Richard Murray phone me one night – I’ll never forget it – and said would you be interested in selling the company and then coming back in to run it, as we need a rental company in the group? It really just blossomed from there. We built it up.

And here we are 20 years later. Let’s talk about where your business is now. What happened with Charter Broadcasting? Is Presteigne still in the OB business, or the project systems business – or have you gone back to your roots in equipment rental?

As a dry hire, RF

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Presteigne Broadcast Hire has appointed well-known industry figure David O’Carroll as its new head of technology. He joins from leading outside broadcast company NEP Visions, where as technical manager he was responsible for major projects including the BBC Proms, Global X Games and Wimbledon.
“Presteigne is an important player in the industry, providing partnerships and backup for broadcasters, production companies and outside broadcast facilities,” said O’Carroll. “That alone makes this new job an exciting challenge, to understand how we can all work together to create compelling and technically excellent television.

“Today we are also seeing huge technology changes, and with Presteigne I have the chance to get involved in some demanding and innovative projects,” he added. “We are already leaders in RF mesh technology, for instance, providing wide area coverage for wireless cameras. We are also investing in 4k acquisition, so we can support those who want to create content for Ultra-HD or for the archives.”

Presteigne has an established projects operation, for example providing complete flyaway kits for BBC Sport for its Formula 1 coverage. One of O’Carroll’s challenges will be to further develop the projects offering.

“Fundamentally, though, our business depends upon us having the right quantities of the right equipment, in perfect condition and ready to go,” said Mike Ransome, CEO of Presteigne Broadcast Hire. “David has proved himself in understanding how best to use technology to achieve the creative vision of producers and directors, and how to create new opportunities through the latest innovations.

“We welcome him to the team to lead our choices of technology, guiding our investment strategy so that we remain the first choice for equipment rental and for project partnerships.”

About Presteigne Broadcast Hire Presteigne Broadcast Hire is a leading dry hire and complete multi-location production solution provider. Established in 1992, with offices in the UK and operating globally, Presteigne Broadcast Hire has the expertise to offer worldwide solutions to meet a wide range of production needs. Their rental department is one of the most comprehensive in the industry, with access to over 30,000 items of equipment, while specialising in project solutions where they bring their extensive RF, Audio, Video, EVS, HD and 3D divisions together to offer customers a unique and seamless broadcasting experience. For more information, please see: presteigne.tv

Presteigne Broadcast Hire Contact:
Mike Ransome Tel: +44 (0) 1293 651 300 Email: [email protected]