UBF has purchased the ex-Carlton company from US outside broadcast operator National Mobile Television (NMT), which bought the north-west London company from managing director and then owner Barry Johnstone in 1999.
The deal cements UBF's position as one of the largest operators in Europe with CTV's 85 staff and 13 trucks taking the group to over 1,000 full-time employees and 40 OB vehicles. CTV contracts include providing trucks for Sky Sports' cricket coverage.
Managing director Barry Johnstone will stay in charge of CTV where he has been managing director since 1982, before it became the outside broadcast division of Carlton Communications. It was originally a post-production and studio facility. Johnstone sold CTV Outside Broadcasts to NMT in 1999 - four years after he bought the business from Carlton.
As part of the deal tying the current management to the company, UBF has committed£8m to equipping CTV with two high-definition OB trucks. One is set to be delivered by the end of this year, while the other is expected to be ready for use by spring next year. The two HD trucks will bring UBF's HD capacity to six trucks, with four already operational in Belgium and the Netherlands. Johnstone would not comment on whether the trucks would be used to record HD content for Sky's cricket coverage.
Johnstone assured staff last week in an internal memo that there would be no job cuts. CTV will continue to trade under its own name, as do other component parts of the UBF group, such as Videohouse in Belgium, Cinevideogroep and NOB in the Netherlands, UBF in Portugal, and UBF in Hungary.
CTV turned over£16.5m and£16.6m in 2003 and 2004 respectively but Johnstone expects that this year's revenues will be closer to£17.5m.
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