ES Broadcast Hire opens first US office in Orlando

European broadcast equipment rental firm ES Broadcast Hire has opened its first office in the US. Bob Hawkanson joins the company as senior vice president to head up the office.

Located in Orlando, Florida, the office will house a dedicated dry hire fleet of Sony and Grass Valley cameras, lenses – including Canon’s new UJ111x8.3Band UJ122x8.2B 4K field lenses – grip and other equipment. US clients will also be able to access ES Broadcast Hire’s global 4K and HD fleet – one of the world’s largest – including 140 Sony HDC-4300 camera channels, as well as Grass Valley channels, EVS replay servers and a full array of Canon and Fujinon UHD lenses.

It brings the company’s number of rental locations in Europe and North America to seven, following the opening of an office in Rome earlier this year.

“This office will allow us to station a dedicated dry hire fleet in the US, rather than serving the market from our European rental stock,” explained Warren Taggart, managing director of ES Broadcast Hire. “Our experience in operating multiple European locations has shown us that maintaining a local inventory of equipment gives us the capacity to respond quickly and flexibly to the needs of our clients.

“Of course, our US clients will also have access to what is one of the world’s largest 4K rental fleets – so we can offer full scalability with high-end production value for large-scale events.”

Welcoming Bob Hawkanson as senior vice president, Taggart added: “I am delighted that Bob, with his extensive experience in sports production, has agreed to lead our Orlando office. He is someone we know well from our existing work in the US, and is well-equipped to drive further success at what is an exciting time of expansion for ES Broadcast Hire.”

Hawkanson joins the company from rental house VER, bringing with him a wide range of experience in the OB and live sports market in the US, in both sales and technical operational roles. He has previously provided services for an array of market-leading clients such as NFL Network, ESPN, Fox Sports and the Tennis Channel.

ES Broadcast Hire’s Orlando office is open now. Interested parties should call Bob Hawkanson on +1 407-242-3333, email [email protected] or visit esbroadcasthire.com