Evidence showing that broadcasters are fast becoming the masters of developing their own answers to tricky technology issues will be on show in the EBU’s Saturday afternoon event Public Service Media: Innovation and Inspiration.
Setting the context for six very different projects, EBU Director of Technology & Innovation Simon Fell said: “Public broadcasters play a central role in civil, social and political life, but aren’t always seen as being at the leading edge of technology.
“Through this unique session we’ll show clearly that innovation is thriving in public service media. Right across the EBU membership there are organisations breaking new ground with services, platforms and projects of all kinds,” he added.
Per Björkman of SVT will discuss how the Swedish broadcaster SVT streams almost its entire output online. Xavier Jacques-Jourion of RTBF will explain how the Belgian broadcaster has developed a tool that uses the power of semantic web and open linked data sources to change the way that journalists engage and work with content and data from multiple sources.
Representing Radio France, Hervé Dejardin will talk about the cutting edge of immersive audio technologies on the nouvOson platform.
NRK’s Jorn Jensen will explain why and how the Norwegian broadcaster is moving quickly towards switching off its FM radio platform, with a fully digital market expected as early as January 2017.
The way that apps and tablets have opened up new avenues for broadcasters to explore and exploit will be given a Dutch perspective by Joost Negenmann of NPO. Spain is represented by Pere Vila Fumas of RTVE, who will talk about Europe’s first tests of UHDTV over DVB-T2.
The EBU is also looking closely at cloud-based infrastructures and at the related role of software development. Talking about its first developer conference (EBU DevCon, 18-19 November), Fell said: “We are hoping to invite a community of software developers to come together to share techniques and stories so we can benefit as a whole. This is another front where public service media excel.”
