by Roberto Landini

In January 2022 Euro Media Group announced the birth of EMG Italy from the merger of three historic companies: 3Zero2TV, Netco Sports and Global Production. Today, one year later, we met Claudio Cavallotti, CEO of EMG Italy, and asked for an update on the state of the art of this important company in the landscape of broadcast and media production services.

Claudio Cavallotti opens:

“The merger of our three reference companies in Italy has made it possible to group specialized skills in precise and contiguous segments: from studio productions to the production of cutting-edge live graphics with virtual reality, artificial intelligence and digital solutions typically, up to a fleet of state-of-the-art mobile galleries for multi-camera production in HD, UHD-HDR and 4K.

This convergence of professionalism, experience and innovation has allowed us to take a leap forward as a complete ecosystem and to be able to offer EMG Italy to customers in a coordinated manner, both towards the Italian and European markets, in the treatment of the entire broadcast and digital chain.

Remote production, cloud and IP technology are at the heart of EMG's strategy.

This allows us to offer customers high-quality services to produce, improve and manage content and ultimately provide viewers with enhanced viewing experiences.”

"How has the company philosophy evolved since Claudio Cavallotti took over the reins of the Italian division?"

Claudio Cavallotti: “Since I became director of EMG Italy, we have gone through an initial phase of adjustment, as the merger has been very demanding. Only now, months later, we are beginning to see concrete results. There have been many changes to the setup and others are still in progress.

We have heavily worked on the entire organizational structure and streamlined the operational paths and on some issues we have even had the courage to make U-turns, such as with the closure of the Turin office and its warehouse to condense the staff on more modern tasks and not having to double the efforts.

Today we are more than 100 people and we undoubtedly consider ourselves a large company, both in terms of size and prestige, part of an international group that includes thousands of professionals.

All our initiatives aim at further improvement, in two directions: profit margins, even if the Italian market is challenging, and the quality of the work of the personnel in the company”.

"The idea, then, is to streamline structures and procedures and avoid doubling technologies and means to the benefit of customers?"

Claudio Cavallotti: “Yes, we have avoided needlessly duplicating production structures, specializing skills by segmenting and concentrating activities in the Milan - Cologno production centre. The recent sale of the "3zero2 Studios" production centre also goes in this direction. By grouping and centralizing technology and means of production, we can approach the market in a more streamlined way and offer ourselves to a more international clientele; we can also make the staff work in smart-working and be more operational, streamlined, modern and fast".

“Are there any news on the customers and new technologies front?”

Claudio Cavallotti: "Basically we are dedicating even more time and energy to the big players, such as Amazon, Discovery, Dazn which are managed within EMG Italy but also at an international level with the help of the Group, as in the case for Infront and Sky. We even developed a somewhat different strategy and vision for the smaller clients, based on systems suited to the market in terms of cost/performance.

Increasingly in harmony with the international Group, also in terms of the development of technological innovations, we are proceeding together with the macro-players and expanding procedures that are already consolidated for us, such as remote production. Much of our interest is also aimed at IP and cloud infrastructures, to which we are dedicating more and more energy, especially with our proprietary system diPloy. We have already been using it on big events: the multi-sports European Championships in Munich last summer, the 2022 edition of Roland Garros and in the future we will be able to use it with other customers too. Among other things, it is also planned to be used in the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Courchevel-Meribel for Infront in February 2023".

"So EMG Italy is increasingly integrated into the Group's operational and strategic landscape and into an even more international market?"

Claudio Cavallotti: “Of course. New CEO Shaun Gregory brought better coordination to all countries, with new agility and willingness to help each other, both at a business and technological level, to everybody's benefit. At Group level, all the countries are becoming more and more united, with increasingly similar profiles. Much has been done regarding internal communication, operational coordination and more in-depth control, both for the technologies to be adopted and for revenue. EMG Italy is also adapting to international pricing policies with rates more similar and consistent with the European market. Our idea is to raise the level of the market trying to please and get everyone to agree, customers, and employees, and respecting margins. We have decided to respond to the ever-changing market by giving a more significant value to our staff, and I must say that our customers are also helping us to enhance this aspect. The difference from the past is that we used to be very isolated entities, while today we are very united and with an increasingly international reach".

“Any indiscretions for EMG Italy that we can announce in advance?”

Claudio Cavallotti: “As always, we are moving on many different fronts - but among the results I am particularly proud of, I would like to mention the agreement closed for the production of the LBA basketball championship for Eleven Sports. With a three-year agreement, production will be entirely remote, not only for the tv production part but also for remote centralized referee control room or "Instant Replay Center": all signals from the fields will in fact converge in the Milan Cologno Monzese hub.

Other important commitments in 2023 concern the European Volleyball Championships for Infront, which will take place between August and September, and the Master Control Room which will manage the live streaming and international distribution of signals of the University sports events for FISU over the next five years".

©2022 EMG Italy – robertolandini presspool pressoffice