Television Corp sells broadcast unit

Television Corporation today said it was selling the outside broadcast unit that supports coverage of major sports events such as Premiership football.

The group has shaken hands on a £16.8m (€24m) deal to sell Visions to NEP, a US provider of mobile production facilities, large video screens and television studios.

Visions generated £14.4m (€20.6m) in revenues and £800,000 (€1.1m) profits last year from supplying facilities for sports events such as racing and cricket on Channel 4 and football to Five.

These facilities cover everything from microphones and cameras to “super slo-mo” replays and other technical equipment.

Recent agreements have included a three-year contract with Sky Sports to provide outside broadcast coverage of Premiership football matches between 2003 and 2005.

It also sealed a partnership with US broadcaster NBC to provide facilities at four venues of the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2006 Winter Olympics.

Other events covered by Visions have included the Booker Prize and a Ronan Keating concert at Wembley, while it also provides facilities for TV shows such as Robot Wars.

Selling the business would enable Television Corp to focus on its core content and production businesses Sunset and Vine and Mentorn.

In addition, the company will also keep niche sports production firm Venner, which owns the Hawk-Eye ball-tracking technology used in tennis and cricket events worldwide.

The deal, which is due to be completed next month following approval from shareholders, will enable Television Corp to slash debts by £7.7m (€11m).

Chairman Tom Chandos said the disposal of Visions positioned the business for growth and part of the proceeds would be used to fund acquisitions.

The news just comes just days after Television Corp learned that cricket coverage will transfer at the start of the 2006 season to Sky from Channel 4.

It said the decision was “disappointing, if not unexpected” for its Sunset and Vine division, but that it was well-positioned to exploit other sports opportunities.

Although a record level of new business has been won ahead of the new financial year, Television Corp said its second-half performance had been harmed by delays in the commissioning of new programmes and the weak US dollar.