London-based Blink TV, the big screen entertainment company, has announced the opening of a business development unit in the US, headed by Van Jarvis and based in San Francisco.
Jarvis has been in the professional live video production business for over 20 years having worked for two of the leading US video rental companies, and also produced high profile music shows like the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington in 1999 and the United Nations sponsored Groundwork 2001 in Seattle.
Blink specializes in the provision of integrated video packages for rock and pop concerts and festivals around the world. The operation in the States will be structured along similar lines as it is in other territories around the world. Blink subsides the costs of bands touring with video equipment in return for the rights to use the screens during walk-in and intervals. Blink then produces state-of-the-art entertainment to run on the screens during those periods of downtime.
Jarvis feels the climate is ripe for the Blink concept to take off in the US, in spite of the current difficult economic climate. “Production values are still high, and acts can benefit from keeping their costs down and simultaneously adding value to their shows,” he states.
Blink TV’s MD Bill Lord comments, “Van and I have known each other for some time now and I’m very confident that he has the ability and the contacts to really develop our business. The U.S is by far the biggest market for live music, and to be the market leaders we need to have a significant presence in it”.