They say that economic downturns are opportunities if you have the leverage to take advantage of them. Production Resource Group (PRG), one of the biggest suppliers of entertainment and event technology systems, looks like it has done just that to broaden its reach into new markets. In January, PRG acquired New York-based AV post facility Pow! Pix.
This marks PRG’s entry into the rental of post-production equipment and services sector, enabling it to offer on-site editing for live event and other broadcasts, as well as traditional post-production services in its seven video editing suites and two mix rooms.
Media Services Division
The Pow! Pix acquisition forms the basis of the company’s new PRG Media Services division, which will be headed by PRG vice president Mike Perrone and Pow! Pix’s former principal Bob Barzyk, who stays on board as vice president for post production. Perrone says that the addition of post-production services will synergize well with PRG’s current range of support services for major live events. “I think it’ll be good to be able to offer our clients the traditional post-production types of services, but what’s of more interest is being able to offer post-type services, like editing, in a tight turn-around environment like live events,” he says. Perrone adds that the rental aspect of post equipment also fits well with PRG’s larger rental business for equipment such as lighting and video. (PRG’s website asserts that the company has the world’s largest lighting rental inventory.)
But that same synergy of supporting large live events of the sort that have been traditionally also been broadcast for television and cable also lays the groundwork for PRG to add streaming those same events to its menu card. Streaming is already a regular proposition for several types of markets, including extreme sports broadcasts, but the explosion this year in music streaming services and the way that the music industry’s economic models are quickly adapting suggests that streaming will soon become less of a stepchild in the media mix and more of a primary distribution channel for mainstream events programming, such as the awards shows that are high-profile clients for PRG and its competitors.
HD Streaming
“Streaming is going to have to look more like broadcast; it’s going to have to offer the same kinds of high production values that people have become used to in broadcast, like [high definition] video,” says Perrone. The Pow! Pix acquisition is part of a strategy that has been evolving at PRG, he says. “This is a sector that we’ve been eyeing for some time. We’re seeing more emphasis being placed on integrated services, and our customers have been asking about this capability. They’ve actually been renting those kinds of services, so the opportunity has existed for a while. The Pow! Pix acquisition gave a us a cornerstone to execute that strategy. It gives us a leg into the market.”
Perrone soft-pedals the facility angle of post-production as a service and probably rightly so. The wheels are coming off the post business with alarming speed – the sale of Ascent Media’s post and creative services divisions in December is just the latest in a string of closures and consolidations brought on by changes in technology and budgets. But if post-production technology and workflow – and Perrone says Bob Barzyk is a master at establishing efficient workflow structure – can be adapted to the streaming environment, and combined with and applied to what PRG already does for the event business, the synergies look very good.
The Bigger Picture
It’s also a logical step in the context of the bigger picture for event production and entertainment media in general. As prerecorded media – i.e., CDs, DVDs, etc. – began to decline in unit and dollar volume, and as file-based entertainment media decrease in relative value if not in unit sales, the entertainment industry has shifted its focus to live events, mainly the music concerts that have been the meat and potatoes for Live Nation and AEG Live. But, as we saw last month in this space, touring concert volume dollars and units are now also substantially off. The unique event, however, whether it’s a prime-time awards show or a dazzling rehash of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, offers a product that can be better differentiated.
PRG is already a major player in concert touring, corporate events and television events; it’s getting a foothold in film production as well, especially with its lighting products. Iron Man 2 used 20 of PRG’s Bad Boy luminaires for the film’s massive Sepulveda Dam scene. For the same film, PRG provided a large LED video wall with content controlled by the PRG Mbox EXtreme v3 media server.
PRG added another rung on the ladder of its vertical strategy with the acquisition of Pow! Pix, which not only adds to the array of services it offers clients but opens the door on a streaming service and content silo that’s well-timed for what’s happening in the media distribution market this year. The recession and the market disruptiveness wrought by relentless technological change have put a lot of opportunities of this sort on the table. It’ll be an interesting year.
