Origin acquires MCR Broadcast Hire

Broadcast and post rental outfit, Origin Film & Television, has acquired the assets of MCR Broadcast Hire and will be taking on the staff and business with immediate effect.

Less than a year into trading, this first major acquisition will allow Origin to bring onboard the experience and expertise of the MCR team in digital cinema cameras, RF for outside broadcast and professional audio.

“This purchase is great news. It will reinforce Origin’s existing team – ensuring a complete end-to-end offering, from production through to post, says Liam Wife, Origin’s founder.“We have been working with the team at MCR for a while and we are all excited by thisacquisition. It also adds considerable new inventory and supports our strong five-year growth plan.”

Established in 2020, Origin Film & Television secured start-up investment of £5 million and is expected to exceed £4 million turnover in its first year of trading. It has a portfolio of over 120 projects which includes “major clients and broadcasters from all over the world.”

MCR Broadcast was founded in 2019 and was headed up by Mike Ransome, previously CEO of Presteigne Broadcast. He has worked in the broadcast rental industry for over 35 years.

“Obviously, it’s sad to see the MCR brand go. However, I’ve worked with the team at Origin for some time and I know they can take the company to the next level,” says Ransome, who will act as a consultant to the company following the acquisition.

“This acquisition will place Origin in a unique position, uniting our team’s core workflow skillsets with the point of capture. This will mean we can provide a true end-to-end production solution,” added Wife.

Origin offers broadcast and post-production equipment rental, cloud, virtualised and remote services and project design, support and engineering to live production, reality and factual entertainment shows as well as film and long form drama.

Work includes the Tokyo Olympics, Wimbledon and every major sporting event this year as well as the likes of Killing Eve and Dragon’s Den. Post houses such as The Farm and Raccoon and OB Companies including NEP and EMG are also clients.