NEP Group provides broadcast and live events support for Identity at G7 Summit in Cornwall

When the leaders of seven of the world’s most advanced economies gathered for the 47th G7 Summit in the southwest of England, NEP Group was there to support creative production agency Identity as it brought the event to millions of viewers around the world. Identity utilised NEP’s technical expertise, infrastructure and facilities for both the broadcast and audiovisual solutions.

Spanning more than six locations in Cornwall, England, the G7 broadcast required a collaboration of NEP’s UK and Ireland outfits, utilising NEP Bow Tie’s broadcast, AV and webcasting project management experience, NEP Connect’s connectivity and transmission capabilities and Creative Technology’s live events solutions.

NEP assembled a broadcast services staff of over 100 technicians, engineers and logistics specialists, encompassing over 500 operational and planning days, all dedicated to this three-day event. NEP Connect provided three state-of-the-art satellite uplink systems, including two fully resilient dual antenna uplinks deployed to three different locations. NEP Connect engineers delivered nearly 100 hours of transmission time to reach an audience around the world, with the NEP Network Operations Centre at MediaCityUK overseeing the operation and distributing live feeds to various broadcast networks.

“Providing and managing the Host Broadcast facilities for Identity, who were the main contractors for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, was a pleasure,” said Martin Swain, NEP Group’s head of engineering and technical projects, who led NEP’s broadcast efforts for the G7.

“Having worked with them on several major events, we have a close relationship and solid partnership that makes these projects so much easier. With this great partnership, Identity’s event leadership and our technical expertise, we had the event well in hand. I am proud to say that our NEP and Identity teams, across all sites, rose to the occasion and each challenge, change or addition was met with success.”

NEP created complete end-to-end broadcast solutions for Identity, deploying four OB trucks, satellite trucks, fibre connectivity, LiveU services, media asset management services, edit facilities and ingest solutions. In addition, the team created a large, purpose-built media centre from the ground up using one of its specialty flypacks along with expansive facilities that included media servers, 25 edit booths, 150 cabled workstations, standup positions and uplink facilities. All press conferences from the Summit were distributed verbatim in seven languages.

NEP’s Creative Technology team, led by senior project manager Nick Whitehead, worked alongside NEP Bow Tie and NEP Connect to deliver all of the audiovisual requirements across the six sites, including a multichannel IPTV system to feed host broadcast transmission, messaging and off-air programmes to the large-format LCD displays in the main delegate venues and the Media Centre. Creative Technology also supplied desktop displays and switching in the main Summit Room as well as virtual participation equipment for remote contributors. The audio team, headed by senior project manager Staf Rowley, provided a digital networked system to distribute multiple simultaneous interpretation feeds across the sites.

“The project was demanding due to the high-level technical and logistical requirements of a major government project,” Whitehead said. “I would like to extend my thanks to the Creative Technology in-house and freelance crew who did an excellent job in delivering all requirements on a very tight timeline.”

Michael Gietzen, managing director, Identity, said: “Delivering G7, the UK’s first international in-person event since Brexit and the pandemic, was always set to be a challenge. Due to our best-in-class experience and our dedicated event partners, the delivery was a resounding success with our client. I would like to extend my thanks to our partners at NEP Group who provided first-class support with broadcasting this prestigious and complex event.”