Broadcast News

Bookmark and Share
10/12/2004

Thomson buys MPC for £53 million

Industry giant Thomson has acquired The Moving Picture Company (MPC) from ITV for £52.7 million (€76 million).
The Moving Picture Company, which is located in the Soho district of London and employs around 400 people, is an industry-leading provider of visual effects (VFX) and postproduction services to both the feature motion picture and commercial advertising industries.
The worldwide postproduction market is growing rapidly, currently valued at around €4 billion, while visual effects have become one of the highest profile and fastest growing value-added postproduction services, representing around €500 million of the worldwide postproduction market.
In 2004, all of Hollywood’s top grossing films utilised visual effects, continuing a trend that has spanned several years, and MPC provides VFX for major Hollywood studios including Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures.
Recent titles include 'Alexander', all three 'Harry Potter' films, 'Troy' 'Alien vs. Predator' and 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider'. As a result of its unique technical and creative capabilities, MPC is expected to continue its leadership position in one of the fastest growing segments in services for content owners.
Over the last 12 months, MPC has generated over £44 million (€63 million) in total sales.
MPC is also widely recognised in the commercial advertising industry for producing high-end commercial content for many world-leading advertisers including Nike, Levis, Motorola, Adidas, and Coca Cola – as well as other Fortune 500 companies and major European advertisers.
The addition of MPC will provide the cornerstone for future growth of Thomson’s visual effects offerings worldwide for both feature film and commercial advertising customers. With a strong client base, specialised know-how and a stellar reputation with the creative community, MPC will provide a strong complement to Technicolor’s Emmy Award-winning Hollywood-based broadcast visual effects and Toronto-based VFX facilities.
“We are delighted to be joining the Thomson/Technicolor family,” said David Jeffers, Managing Director of MPC. “The advantages of bringing together two organisations which are so focused on service and quality will be a huge benefit to our customers, and will help assure the success of our efforts going forward”.
Lanny Raimondo, Thomson Senior Executive Vice President, Services, added: “MPC’s outstanding team of respected professionals, and reputation for service and high quality expertise, fits perfectly with the goals of our entire group.
“As a key provider to the Hollywood studios of superb VFX work, MPC maintains great relationships with the creative community worldwide, including local UK productions, and the strengths of MPC fit strategically into Thomson’s 'best of breed' palette of service offerings to our customers.”
(GB)
Solidmate Ltd Memory Card Hire London

Top Related Stories
Click here for the latest broadcast news stories.

23/02/2024
Innovative Production Services Elevates Audio Production With Lawo
Innovative Production Services, a leading provider of cutting-edge event production and OB solutions, has announced the acquisition of the state-of-th
25/05/2004
MPC leads effects effort for ‘Troy’
MPC has worked as lead facility creating 425 VFX shots for this summer’s Hollywood release ‘Troy’, featuring Brad Pitt, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana and d
29/02/2024
Ateliere Offers New Complimentary Professional Services
Ateliere Creative Technologies has launched a new complimentary Professional Services offering that provides assessments for studios, broadcasters, po
12/12/2023
Pip Studios Appoints Head Of Client Services And Business Development
Pip Studios, part of Molinare Creative Group, has appointed Shannon Sewell as Head of Client Services and Business Development. The appointment solidi
24/11/2023
Black Box Is Now A Mitel Financial Services Specialisation Partner
Black Box® has announced that it is now a Mitel Financial Services Specialisation partner. A global market leader in business communications, Mitel an
06/10/2023
Cobalt Iron Unveils Isolated Services Vault
Cobalt Iron Inc has announced Isolated Vault Services™, a new enhancement available in the Cobalt Iron Compass® enterprise SaaS backup platform. In a
07/08/2023
ATG Danmon To Promote Range Of Integration Services
Exhibiting with Danmon Group colleagues on stand 8.B60, ATG Danmon will promote its comprehensive range of systems integration services at IBC 2023. T
01/03/2023
Carousel Digital Signage Bundles Two Primary Services
Carousel Digital Signage has bundled two of its primary services for new and long-term Carousel Cloud customers that provide a wealth of design and tr
25/03/2024
Ease Live Launches Contextual On-Stream Advertising Capability
Ease Live, an Evertz company, has announced the launch of contextual on-stream advertising capability for live sports through its interactive graphics
23/01/2024
Ateliere Announces SCA With Amazon Web Services
Ateliere Creative Technologies has announced a landmark five-year Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with Amazon Web Services (AWS). This collabo
11/01/2024
Relo Metrics Expands Its Measurement Services
Relo Metrics (formerly GumGum Sports) has announced an expansion of its measurement services with Reading Football Club to an official partnership, ma
11/04/2023
SMPTE Teams Up With Open Services Alliance®,
SMPTE® is partnering with the Open Services Alliance®, which focuses on enabling improved open interoperability among service-based applications. This
04/04/2023
Planetcast Chosen As Media Services Partner By Star Sports, Viacom 18 And Times Internet
Planetcast Media Services has been selected as media services partner by Indian Premier League (IPL) rights winners Star Sports (domestic TV broadcast
22/03/2023
Antenna Entertainment Migrates To Imagine Communications' Cloud Managed Services
When major media organization Antenna Group, based in the Netherlands, acquired Sony Pictures Television's network portfolio in Central and Eastern Eu
04/09/2023
MwareTV Tackles Critical Issue Of Branding Services
MwareTV has tackled the critical issue of branding services with a unique approach to creating consumers apps. The software functionality, App Builder