Babcock Media has begun work on a new combined MCR following the company’s acquisition of WRN Broadcast in March.

Over the past six months, the two organisations have been integrated under the Babcock brand, with staff restructured into a single team under one location at the former WRN Broadcast site in Vauxhall.

The new MCR, which will be used to monitor all of the combined Babcock playout and distribution services and WRN Broadcast offering from one location, is being designed and built by Babcock’s in-house team of engineers.

Babcock director of media services Leah Holding expects the new MCR to be built and the move completed by the end of the calendar year.

“Combining has made us much stronger and able to offer even more customers an even wider range of services…looking ahead our plan is to build on the integration and grow the business further as we secure an even greater share of the global broadcast market.”

The new combined business will consist of around 300 people across the world, of which roughly 250 are from Babcock and 50 from WRN Broadcast.

“Babcock and WRN Broadcast were providing many similar services, so we have really focused on drawing out the very best from each and tailoring them to each customer’s unique requirements,” said Holding.

“In many cases, that includes opening customers up to new ways of delivering their content at each end of the spectrum, from analogue radio through to IP content delivery.”

Holding anticipates the merger will expand the company’s clients and the range of services it provides.

“We have been focused on combining the innovative approaches that each business had adopted across all of our offerings and introducing those to customers, both current and new. Our existing customer base has been really excited about the coming together of the businesses and many of them have expanded their services with us, post-acquisition.”

Babcock’s clients include ABC, BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle and NHK (Radio Japan).

Former WRN Broadcast chief executive David Treadway left the company at the beginning of August after seven years in the job.

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