IBC2014 Executive Summary

Neelie Kroes, VP EuropeanCommission urges MemberStates to think Beyond Borders

A true Single Digital Market

Professor Brian Cox OBE onBroadcast’s Cultural Responsibility

Fragmenting TV Universe

Partners not PredatorsEurope President Matt BrittinDelivers Google Vision

01 Executive IBC2014_final_www.creatixdesign.co.uk 17/09/2014 14:51

Untitled-1 1 17/09/2014 12:51

IIBC attracts thought leaders from acrossthe industry and around the world.Bringing them together to shareknowledge on technology, policy,economics and creativity is the DNA ofIBC.

These decision-makers come to IBCbecause it is the forum which sets theagenda for the industry. Our many-stranded conference allows knowledgeto be shared on every level.

The IBC Leaders’ Summit bringstogether top executives together for aclosed door session. In private they talkabout the real issues driving the industryforward – and perhaps limiting its growth.

This publication brings together theviews of many of the delegates to theSummit. Other contributors gavekeynote addresses in the main IBCconference.

Matt Brittin, president of GoogleEurope, talks about his company’srelationship with broadcast; visualeffects pioneer Douglas Trumbull looksat some of the technological advanceswhich may drive the future of film-making; David Abraham of Channel4 in the UK discusses the evolution of

the broadcaster’s online strategies; andProfessor Brian Cox OBE talks about theresponsibility of programme-makers totheir public.

This is a time of enormous change forthe electronic media industry. We havepassed the tipping point from anindustry defined by its technology to aworld of connectivity driven byconsumers expecting contenteverywhere.

IBC 2014 focused heavily on thisissue, and that debate will continue inour new series of IBC ContentEverywhere events covering Europe, theMiddle East and North Africa and LatinAmerica. Are we seeing the death ofbroadcasting or the renaissance ofcontent production?

I hope that you find the IBC ExecutiveDaily stimulating reading, and that itgives you a flavour of the environmentwe have created at IBC. On behalf of thewhole IBC team I wish you a successfulpassage through the seas of change,and I hope to see you here inAmsterdam for IBC2015.

Michael Crimp, CEO, IBC

theibcdaily Executive Summary 03

Knowledge on every level

InsideSam BarnettMBC....................................................Page 04

Mohammad Abdullah TECOM...............................................Page 05

Ran SenderovitzIntel .....................................................Page 06

Ali AmiriEtisalat ................................................Page 06

Bill Baggelaar Sony Pictures Entertainment.............Page 08

John Footen Cognizant ...........................................Page 08

Anthony Geffen Atlantic Productions...........................Page 09

Matt Brittin Google ................................................Page 10

Tom Leighton Akamai................................................Page 12

Clyde Smith Fox TV ................................................Page 13

Pete Thompson Ericsson..............................................Page 13

Ken Morse Cisco...................................................Page 14

Douglas TrumbullFilmmaker...........................................Page 16

Don Shaw Christie Digital ....................................Page 17

Howard Lukk Pannon Entertainment.......................Page 17

Richard Welsh Sundog Media Toolkit........................Page 18

Niclas Ericson FIFA TV ...............................................Page 20

Ella D’Amato Drum...................................................Page 21

Eric Huggers formerly of Verizon .............................Page 22

Tim DavieBBC Worldwide..................................Page 23

John Nolan Apollo20 .............................................Page 24

Professor Brian Cox OBE ...........Page 29

Tre AzamMyndplay............................................0

Joe Inzerillo Major League Baseball......................Page 31

IBC Leaders’ Summit ...................Page 32

Bruce TuchmanAMC Global and Sundance Channel.....................Page 38

Charlie Vogt Imagine Communications .................Page 39

David Abraham Channel 4 ...........................................Page 40

Denise TurnerHavas Media Group...........................Page 41

Gill HindEnders Analysis..................................Page 42

Richard Sambrook Cardiff University................................Page 43

Neelie Kroes European Commission ......................Page 44

Karl-Heinz LaudanDeutsche Telekom .............................Page 46

Simon Fell EBU.....................................................Page 48

Jette Nygaard-Andersen MTG Nordics......................................Page 49

Pravin Chandiramani Simulmedia.........................................Page 50

theibcdaily

EDITORIAL Editorial Director: Fergal Ringrose Editor: Adrian Pennington Reporters: Kate Bulkley, Ann-Marie Corvin, Chris Forrester, Carolyn Giardina, George Jarrett, Andy StoutPhotography: James Cumpsty, Chris Taylor ART & PRODUCTION Head of Design & Production: Adam Butler Editorial Production Manager: Dawn Boultwood Production Manager: Alistair TaylorSALES Sales Manager: Ben Ewles Tel: +44 (0)20 7 354 6000, Email: [email protected] Richard Carr Tel: +44 (0)20 7 354 6000, Email: [email protected] Sales Michael Mitchell Tel: +1 (631) 673 3199 Email: [email protected] IBC Chief Executive Officer: Michael Crimp Publisher: Steve Connolly Managing Director: Mark Burton

Published on behalf of the IBC Partnership by Intent Media Ltd, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN © The International Broadcasting Convention 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced ortransmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without the express prior written consent of the publisher.

Printed by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA, UK.

“We have passed thetipping point from anindustry defined byits technology to aworld of connectivitydriven by consumersexpecting contenteverywhere”

03 Executive IBC2014_final_www.creatixdesign.co.uk 19/09/2014 13:23 Page 1

04 Executive Summary theibcdaily

MBC’s CEO Sam Barnett tolddelegates at IBC’s keynoteopening panel, Assessing thehealth of broadcast TV, that hisnetworks are in great shapedespite the challenges of signaljamming and some countriesexerting pressure over socialmedia in the MENA region.There have also been thepolitical and sectarian problems over the past months.But it isn’t all doom and gloom.Far from it.

“We have just won the rightsto the important Saudi soccerleague for the next 10 years, sowe have added four channels tothe line-up to cover this action,”said Barnett. “We are alsodiscussing possibilities forEgypt’s main soccer league withour MBC Egypt Channel, andwe have aspirations to bringhigh-quality content to soccer-mad Egyptians. Our focus nowis to bring international quality tothe Saudi matches. We think thisis a very important move for usespecially given the importanceof soccer to the region.

“Saudi Arabia is building 11new stadiums to boost the on-the-ground experience, and istapping into this buzz. Thegames will be available region-wide, and the vision is to takethem even further afield.”

Barnett, who gained his MBAat INSEAD, has been running theMiddle East BroadcastingCentre (MBC) since 2002 when itrelocated from London (where ithad been based since 1991) toDubai, and supporting MBC’sSaudi Arabian chairman SheikhWaleed Al Ibrahim. The pair havegrown MBC from a singlechannel to a massive network of18 channels which dominatesMiddle East broadcasting.

MBC now has targetedchannels for kids, drama,‘action’, Bollywood and moviesin Arabic, English andFarsi/Persian. Its influence via its

24/7 Al Arabiya news channelwas modelled on the BBC forimpartiality and professionalism.MBC is widely recognised to bethe local industry leader, and hasadopted HDTV for its mainchannels and is also preparingfor the arrival of 4K. It is thebroadcast home for theimmensely popular Arab Idolshow (the first episode of thenew season went out on 5thof September to anaudience of 92 million),and its hugely importantRamadan dramas are ahighlight for Arabviewing.

It is investingsignificantly in localproduction and last yearopened its new O3 DramaProduction Studios (andoperated with Dubai’sTECOM and StargateMiddle East) whereepisodes are beingcreated on an “industrialscale” and capable ofturning out a show in a day.

“We have beenbringing drama onto ournetworks from otherArab productionhouses, and oftendubbing Turkish outputinto Arabic. We knowthat local drama whichaddresses issues ofinterest to our viewersin the region will thenbe watched, andthey’ll do better thanimports from abroad.We see this as a biggrowth sector for us,and we hope to sellmore of our outputoverseas. Ourhistorical dramashave always donewell for us, andhave already beenof interestinternationally.”

Assessed to bein good healthSam BarnettCEO, MBC GroupRegion: UAE

By Chris Forrester

“We have found away to producevery high qualityprogramming at a

price that’smanageable”


How flexible can Dubai bewhen Hollywood,Bollywood and others arethemselves sometimesstruggling to matchaudience expectations?Dubai has developed into aleading media hub andproduction destination, and thegovernment has made thedevelopment of a sustainable,vibrant media ecosystem a focalpoint of its vision for the future.The Emirate has experiencedsignificant growth within itsmedia industry and has becomea real media ecosystem, andparticular focus has been placedon making Dubai a home to bigprojects and names.

Dubai has created cutting-edge infrastructure and facilitiesto cater to media companies aswell as adapt to changes in themarket, and has welcomedHollywood and Bollywood filmsalike and a number of regionaland local productions. Dubaioffers flexible entry and exit tomedia companies and with

some of the top names andmedia professionals residing inDubai, the Emirate is alwaysahead of the curve and able tostay on top of this thrivingindustry.

What are your clientsasking for in terms of theirnext stage ofdevelopment? We provide our clients withcutting-edge infrastructure andfacilities to support theirdevelopment, including fibrelinks to teleport facilities acrossDubai Studio City and DubaiMedia City, which are fully SDand HD. We also have a teleportfacility in Jebel Ali, through whichwe uplink several TV channelson radio satellites, and we havethe fibres to support UHDTV.

There has been criticismof Dubai’s costs for labour,support hotels, etc.,(when compared withCairo, Amman or Beirut).How do you respond? Andwho have you welcomedto Dubai recently from theindustry?Ultimately it is about flexibility,and we will always do our bestto accommodate companies ofall sizes. We provide a one-stopshop for companies from acrossthe media value chain, and wehave facilitated large mediaproductions, including filmcrews, cameramen and so on,and assess soft incentives on acase-by-case basis. Recently we

have accommodated largeproductions for extendedperiods of time, providingsupport, infrastructure etc.including MasterChef Arabia andThe Cube. We have facilitatedover 7,000 shooting applicationssince inception. Last year wewelcomed 233 new businesspartners from across the mediavalue chain into our portfolio.

IBC will bring IBC ContentEverywhere to Dubai inJanuary 2015. Howimportant is it that localpeople get to see thelatest in technology?I think that it is great to give localpeople the opportunity to seethe latest trends in technologyand media from around theworld in their own countries, andto create and sustain the sparkof creativity. Dubai is the region’sleading events hub, with severalevents throughout the yeardedicated to the media andtechnology industries, butinternational conferences such

as IBC are valuable in bringingtogether the world’s top mediaand technology professionals. Itis good for residents to have thechance to access industryexpertise and ideas, as well asan insight into the latest trendsfrom around the world, whateverthe event or platform.

What is happening in themobile video world, fromyour clients?The UAE has one of the highestrates of smartphone penetrationin the MENA region. This hashad a real effect on mobile video,with more and more peopleconsuming content on theirsmartphones, and morecategories, including video,being created within the mobilesegment. App developers withinour community of free zonebusiness parks are pioneeringthe creation of technology inDubai, and YouTube and otheronline video providers arecreating an increasing volume ofvideo content for smartphones.With the usage of smartphonescontinuing to grow, the industryis thriving. Content is nowcreated with the question ‘howwill that look on a mobile device’at front of mind, which hascreated a significant growthopportunity; according to astudy from the retailer Plug-InsElectronix, smartphonepurchases have helped to pushup the average householdspending on electronics in theUAE to $1,330 in 2013.


Emiratewith a vision

“Seeing the latest trends intechnology and media can spark

creativity in Dubai”

Mohammad AbdullahManaging Director, TECOM Media ClusterRegion: UAE

Interviewed by: Chris Forrester



Where is Etisalat today inmobile video/VoIP inMENA?Etisalat has launched its ultra-fast 4G networks toaccommodate the increasingdemand for mobile broadband.Etisalat operates in a countrywhere 52% of handsetsregistered on local networks inQ1 were smartphones, a figureup by 10% during 2013 and 1%in Q1/2014. In the Middle East,the number of 4G connectionswill grow to reach 42.6mconnections in 2017,representing only 9.6% of totalmobile connections. We expectthere will be two IP-connecteddevices for every person on theplanet by 2015, many of whichwill be video-capable. Otherstudies forecast that video trafficto tablets and smartphones willgrow at a CAGR of 216% and144% respectively within thesame period.

How is Etisalataddressing this marketwith innovation intechnology, product orservice?We launched our SmartHub as aplatform for internationalservices focused on bridgingcapacity, reach and content tobetter serve the region. It hasbecome the de facto hub forregional telecom services. This

was possible with the addition ofsignificant new services likeSmartHub IPX and IX supportedby our high speed 4G LTEnetwork, 3G and fibre to thehome. The hub continues to addnew world class partners likeLimelight, Level3, CDNNetworks and Aicent and arobust content portfolio likeAkamai, Microsoft, Yahoo andthe world’s largest search andvideo provider.

What are the mainchallenges andopportunities in yourregion?Consumer demand for video isseemingly insatiable, with videoconsumption over the internetand mobile devices growing atunprecedented rates. OTT online

video offerings from aggregatorshave become major players inthe video landscape.Independent content providershave also launched online videoservices, and traditional pay TVproviders are now launchingmultiscreen video offerings aswell. According to a Nielsensurvey of 12,000 connected

device owners, 70% of tabletowners and 68% of smartphoneowners use their devices whilewatching TV. Tablet owners inparticular seem unable to putdown the iPad while flippingchannels, with respondentssaying that nearly a third of the time spent using their device is in front of the TV. Thechallenge for operators is the need to invest ininfrastructure to supportincreasingly high-speed serviceswhich support OTT videoservices such as YouTube.

How important is IBCContent EverywhereMENA to Etisalat ?IBC Content Everywhere MENAis a very important event forEtisalat. It really helps us todemonstrate our capabilities inserving all the content andinternet providers through ouraward winning SmartHub. Our

experience and understandingof this market's dynamics canplay an essential role inextending the reach ofinternational companies trying toreach out to the UAE. Thecontinuous flow of partners toour SmartHub is a clearevidence of reliability in ourcapabilities.

Platform for world class partners

“Telecom operators are urgentlylooking for broadcasters to partner

with on digital content”

Ran Senderovitz is responsiblefor driving business strategy andproduct roadmap planning forprofitability and strategic impactto Intel. He joined Intel as part ofthe Intel acquisition of the Pumaproduct line from TexasInstruments and began hiscareer with the R&D Unit in theArmy, where he spent eightyears, leaving with the rank ofMajor.

He received his Bachelor ofScience in Electrical Engineeringfrom Technion, Haifa in 1992 anda Master of Science in ElectricalEngineering from Tel-Aviv

University in 2002. In 2007 heearned his executive MBA fromKellogg-Recanati (a jointprogramme of Tel-AvivUniversity and Northwestern).

What is your assessmentof the market for mobilevideo over IP?Video over IP is growing rapidlyas users now have anexpectation to be able to accesstheir TV content on any device –often times in the home. One ofthe key areas we see serviceproviders focusing on is toextend their experience that

historically was only available ona TV set to other consumerdevices by delivering it over IP.This is a transition that hasimpact across an operator’snetwork from the data centre tocustomer premise equipment.

How is Intel addressingthis market withinnovation in technology,product or service?Intel delivers systems on a chip(SoCs) that bring broadband intothe home and distribute it to allits connected devices. Weprovide gateway functionalityand deliver quality of service forapplications like video over IPand voice. Intel is proud that wewere first to demonstrate 1Gbpsdownload speed on DOCSIS 3.0and now have extended that to1.6Gbps with our latest Puma 6family of products. Ourextensible gateway platform isalso a foundation for enabling

new services such as homeautomation, smart energy, andmedia distribution.

What are the mainchallenges andopportunities that lieahead for operators?The main challenge we see liesin scaling their networks tosupport of an all-IP delivery ofcontent that still provides thequality of service thatconsumers demand from theircurrent broadcast TVexperience.

How important is IBC as aplatform for bringingabout clarity on the issuesof telco/broadcastconvergence or mobilevideo over IP?IBC draws all the key playersfrom service providers toecosystem players and is a mustattend show for us to meet withour customers and partners,network with industry players,and see the latest trends on theshow floor.

Gateway to video over IP

“This transitionhas impactacross anoperator’s

network from thedata centre to

customerpremise

equipment”

Ran SenderovitzVP Cable and Gateway Solutions & GeneralManager PC Client Group, IntelRegion: Worldwide

Ali AmiriEVP/Carrier & Wholesale, EtisalatRegion: UAE



Untitled-1 1 17/09/2014 12:55

A studio veteran who served 13years at Warner Bros and thelast three at Sony PicturesEntertainment, Bill Baggelaarhas witnessed a lot oftechnology changes such as thegradual passing of film to digital.But what excites him today isthe tremendous creativepotential of High DynamicRange (HDR).

“This is a game changingtechnology for the industry,” hedeclares. “A whole host of thingsupstream and downstreamcome into play. You partner HDRwith 4K and you have acompelling experience for theconsumer with images and

stories that we've not been ableto tell before. I think a lot of theexploration into HDR is still tocome as the technologyemerges.”

Higher dynamic range offers anew level of tools to the creative“and it can tell better stories thatmake the consumer want to ownthe new devices and servicesthat they can experience themon,” says Baggelaar.

As a key executive within theindustry's most vocalcheerleader for 4K content,Baggelaar is aware that he hasa balance to tread. “Resolutionis a component and obviouslydriving some sales and driving

higher quality content whetherthat's new release theatrical orTV content or new direct to OTTservices,” he says. “The drivinggoal of higher resolution is tohelp create a higher qualityproduct which is a first step in ahigher quality overall consumerexperience but I don't thinkresolution alone is the long termplay.”

SPE-owned post divisionColorworks has been workingwith expanded colour gamutand HDR some time. “We'veknown that a rec.709 colourgamut is not a complete enoughexperience and we need toenhance the quality in someother way. We are able to workin HDR today, the process is nottrivial but it is fairly easy on thepost side.”

There is an issue on thedisplay side (a lack of monitorscapable of showing highcontrasts) but the real hurdle, hesays, “is devising a consolidatedstrategy for the industry thatallows us all to deliver it in oneway. This is hotly debated on thetech side. The HDR debate isnot about its possibility, butabout which solution and path totake to the consumer.”

“Certainly if we had HDR inthe [UHD] format from the get-

go things would have beeneasier, but this is not anunresolvable problem.”

Baggelaar adds: “It is difficultfor vendors to put out the be alland end all UHD and HFRdisplay on day one. On the plusside there is some growth in theUHD spec so that the industrycan come up with the rightsolution that provides value toconsumers so that they see thebenefit in upgrading over time.”

When it comes to 4K it isperhaps surprising that not allSPE productions are anautomatic Ultra HD commission.“We are pushing to do as muchin 4K as we can but we pick andchoose on a show by showbasis,” he says. When partneringon co-pros there is a lot ofconsideration into what titles get

the UHD treatment and whichare best done in HD. There arealso creative preferences forparticular acquisition media.

Also on Baggelaar's radar isexperimentation with cloudservices for production. Sony'sprofessional technology arm isdeveloping the Ci platform.“We're leveraging the cloud forthose things that are appropriatesuch as trying to harness thepower of a distributed workforceshooting in one location, VFX inanother and editorial in another,”he explains. “Cloud offersopportunities to leverage thatwithout a lot of the effort we gothrough today. I don't know howclose we are to an end-to-endcloud production but it willbecome more of a trend overtime.”

Embracing change


John FootenAVP Broadcast and Advertising, CognizantRegion: United States

Interviewed by: Adrian Pennington

“Traditional kitvendors can not only survive and profit...

it is almost certain that

they will”

Head of Cognizant’s broadcastconsulting practice, John Footenalso serves as co-chair of theFramework for InteroperableMedia Services (FIMS), jointtaskforce of the Advanced MediaWorkflow Association (AMWA)and is a member of SMPTEwhere he chairs the 34CS MediaSystems Control and Servicestechnology committee. If weneed an expert on the future ofSDI, Footen is that person.

“SDI will die. It was atechnology that was the only wayto accomplish the design goalswe had in systems in the past,but IP methods now can meetour needs. In fact, in many ways,IP has marked advantages. Forexample, new feeds do notautomatically mean a need toadd more infrastructure. Anotherscalability benefit is inherentsupport for higher bit rateformats like 4K.

“Aside from widely promotedtechnical and cost benefits thereis another factor in why SDI mustdie. Our changing workforce.Subject matter experts intraditional broadcast arebecoming harder to come bywhile IT technology experts are

more easily found. This does notmean that broadcast ITapproaches are just like standardIT approaches, but it does meanthat the core base of technicalknowledge is easier to find.

“Much of what we need forSDI to die is already available.There are hybrid SDI/IPtechnologies available to easethe transition. There arestandards for transport and moreon the way. What is missing isthe full plethora of productiontechnologies – especially for liveTV – that are IP native. But that isa statement that will not be truefor long.

“The economic benefits of IPare justified: I think it can beargued that making furthersignificant investments in SDIinfrastructure should no longerhappen. IP technology isubiquitous and cheaper thanever. Moving to an IP basedinfrastructure will allowbroadcasters to converge theircurrent, parallel video and datanetworks into a single IP/ethernet network. The move away from specialisedhardware to pure software has the potential to greatly

reduce the cost for networkorigination.

“Not only can traditionalbroadcast kit vendors surviveand profit, it is almost certain thatthey will. This is because the IPdomain is just an infrastructurelayer. You still need to do 'stuff' inreal world environments. This iswhere the traditional vendorscome in. They understand theworkflows and other needs ofbroadcasters. They are the onlyones who can effectively pulltogether all the commoditytechnology into kits that doactual broadcasting.

“With 4K and 8K on thehorizon, the need to operate in acompressed domain is imminentand it might as well be tackledsooner rather than later. 4Kadoption’s main impact on theconversion to IP is the decisionof compressed versusuncompressed.

“For SDI, you have to bondseveral SDI ports together. Thesame applies to IP whenuncompressed. However, if usingcompressed, you are able to usea single 10G line to handlemultiple 4K streams. By switchingover to IP and already settling ona compression standard, theinfrastructure and environmentwill already be set up to support4K when you need it.”

High dynamic rangegame changerBill BaggelaarSVP Technology, Sony Pictures EntertainmentRegion: United States


“The HDRdebate is notabout itspossibility, butabout whichsolution andpath to take tothe consumer”

SDI will die


It is testimony to AtlanticProductions' embrace oftechnology that the 2014BAFTA-winning Natural History Museum Alive 3Dwas initially conceived as an app.

“I want our production'sdigital journey to begin withproduction not broadcast,” saysexecutive producer AnthonyGeffen. “I want to gather myaudience early in the process sothat we can talk about projectsand build a community longbefore going to air.”

Part of that process maymean going live earlier thanlinear transmission. That couldinclude live to cinematransmissions (walk throughs ofthe Natural History Museum as

trialled successfully by theBritish Museum to cinemas is anexample).

Nothing is off limits for Geffen,who recently changed thestructure of his company toreflect “a proper multi-platformscenario”.

Atlantic, and its joint-venturecollaboration with BSkyB, is theonly winner of a BAFTA for a 3Dfactual production. In fact he haswon two, with 2011's FlyingMonsters 3D a breakthrough forGeffen's approach todocumentary filmmaking.

“We set ourselves a task ofmaking incredible stories thatwork in 2D and 3D, and usingnew technology and newstorytelling techniques to finddifferent ways of bringing the

story to life,” he says. “We'dhoped 3D by now would havemajor distribution but it is onlyselective places. We're stillmaking 3D: Sky wants to do itbut on a lesser scale.”

Atlantic routinely shoots in 4K(occasionally 5K and 6K) fortheatrical release and longershelf life as well as foradvantages in visual clarity. He'sin post on the three-partConquest of the skies chartingthe avian evolution.

“We used opticoptersshooting in 3D in Borneo and inmid-air to fly along with bats andbirds. We've advanced macroshooting, much of which isfamiliar to natural history viewersbut shot in a studio with blue orblack backgrounds,” Geffenexplains.

Using a technique devised byColossus, Vision 3 andONSIGHT the focal lengths canbe changed to enableforeground and backgroundperspectives from smallercreatures “in ways that onecouldn't imagine. We were stuckon how to push the story

forward but technology canoften achieve that.”

It’s sports and movies that aresaid to drive technologyinnovation in TV but naturedocumentaries have to be upthere too. “Natural historyprogramming is a big ticket itemwhich has a massive impact allover the world,” he says. “Itmeans we can get the budget topush boundaries. This used tobe just the BBC in the UK butthat's changed with Sky.

“People want to see a veryfresh perspective and freshtechnology can help achievethat. It's not just the wow factorof a new shot but the whole wayof interpreting a world that isimportant.”

Ultra HD would seem tailor-made for armchair explorers tovisit the wilds of the jungle, thedeep ocean, even a planet. Butwouldn't virtual reality be evenbetter? “Everything is about tochange with VR,” he declares.“Suddenly that very high quality4K could be in your hand for thefraction of the cost of a TV. Youcould download content. It is

incredibly immersive.“We've been working for

years knowing it was coming.There are massivebreakthroughs in cameratechnology and headsets almostdaily. I've seen mindblowingdemonstrations of R&D underNDA.”

The former BBC producer –whose credits include Hirohito:Behind The Myth and TheWildest Dream in which hefollowed the footsteps of GeorgeMallory's fatal Everestexpedition – is applying hisnarrative acumen to VR in threeshort films for Facebook-ownedOculus Rift and other headsetdevelopers.

“My worry is that it can't belike 3D,” he warns. “You've gotto have really good content orVR will make people feel dizzy.”

It's why he set up a VRsubsidiary called Alchemy,which merges Atlantic'sproduction nous with the VFXskills of its subsidiary Zoo.“There is such a rush to getcontent out. We need to becareful.”

Embracing change


Taking natural history to new frontiers

“VR is a wake-up call.It won't steal eyeballs

but it could attractvery importantyounger ones”

Anthony GeffenCEO & Executive Producer, Atlantic ProductionsRegion: UK



Underlining its 'don't be evil'motto to an audience perhapswary of the power of this internetbehemoth, Google's Europepresident Matt Brittin stressed:“We are not predators, we arepartners.”

His IBC2014 keynote'Transforming TV and Beyond:Google's vision of video foreveryone, by everyone andeverywhere’ focused ondisarming the audience of fearsabout Google's plans for TVdomination.

“In technology the [technical]language gets in the way,” Brittinsaid. “TV is simply a device andis just a way of connectingpeople to sight, sound andmotion content. Broadcasting isnot going to die and people willcontinue to watch TV in 50 yearsor more. But they will also bewatching on mobile.”

Some 2.5 billion people areconnected to the web globallytoday, a figure likely to double bythe end of the decade. The fivebillion dollar question, though, iswhether Google is going to startinvesting and commissioning itsown original content a laAmazon and Netflix.

Not yet, was Brittin's answer.“Who knows what will happen inthe future. We gave advancesbased on ad revenues to anumber of productioncompanies a couple of yearsago and on some we lost and onsome we won. That wasn'tstrictly commissioning butencouraging professionalcontent creation companies touse our platform. That remainsthe right model for us. By beinga platform built around a usercommunity who can share andcurate content, and by offering aset of tools to monetise content,we can be a partner, not acompetitor, to the TV industry.”

He claimed: “We don't knowanything about your industry butwe do think we know abouttechnology platforms.” These heidentified as Android,Chromecast and YouTube.Brittin's plea was for contentowners, creators andbroadcasters to partner with iton these.

One of the things Google is

looking at is connecting the bigscreen to the multi-screen. “Theset today as a device is a bit likea 2006 mobile phone,” he said.

He argued that just as Androidhad hugely simplified theprocess of developing formobile, so Google isconcentrated on trying to makethe TV experience as great asthe experience on the mobiledevice.

“The biggest and mostexpensive screen is the onewhich is hardest to interact withand to operate. That shouldn'tbe the case,” he said. “We needto make the web work on TV. It'svery simple to take an app builton Android for mobile andtransfer it to TV. We thinkconsumers want that experienceacross devices and working withAndroid we can take the TV of2006 to the 2015 TV world inone single leap.”

It was pointed out that Googlehad attempted to crack TVbefore with Google TV. Whatlessons were learned from itsfailure? “If you are a techcompany focussing oninnovation and if are not tryingand failing you are not tryinghard enough,” was Brittin'sanswer.

“Android on TV will driveinnovation in OS,” he insisted.“Because it's free to use and anopen system there are lots ofdiscussions on the waysdifferent people want to use it.Plus it has scale. You can takean app and you can scale it withAndroid over Chromecast or ifyou're in pay TV you can useAndroid to improve the userexperience while moving at thedevelopment pace of mobile.”

Having graduated fromCambridge University (where hecame second in the Oxford andCambridge Boat Race) Brittin'scareer has spanned thenewspaper industry, McKinsey &Co and real estate.

He has also won WorldChampionship medals rowingfor Great Britain, was a memberof the 1988 Olympic team, andmore recently raised funds forthe Paralympics by cycling thelength of Britain, mostly in therain.

Embracing change


“We can be apartner not a

competitor to theTV industry” Matt Brittin

President, Google EuropeRegion: EMEA


no evilStill doing


Untitled-4 1 18/09/2014 14:45

“Our mission is to make theinternet work the way you’dwant it to,” states Tom Leighton.“We want it to be really secure,really scalable, really efficientand really affordable.”

Akamai, the ten billion dollarcompany he co-founded in1998, delivers a large fraction ofthe media consumed worldwide.“IBC is very important to us, alarge number of our partners arehere and we have a chance tosee the latest developmentsrelated to media.”

That more video delivery is byIP is clear but the stats fordelivery of the World Cup are stillstartling. Akamai alone managed5 million concurrent users overits platform at one point,delivering 7 terabits per secondof traffic for a single match.Streaming media from that eventwas 10 times as large as theWorld Cup 2010: “And the nextWorld Cup will be 10 times

greater again,” predictedLeighton.

“There is so much more youcan do over the internet.Interactive experiences, differentforms of content, multipledifferent camera angles,companion stats – all at aviewer's command. It's a muchricher experience.”

Couple that with the Internetof Things and there arecountless possibilities formonetising content when youcan reach people in and beyondthe home. “In home, forexample, you can truly mergesocial networking and live TV, ordeliver on the promise of instantproduct placement andpurchase by interaction with themedia.”

Now Ultra HD is coming andAkamai spies yet further growth,but a problem too. “UHD doesrequire a lot more data to besent per second. The minimum

needed for good quality is15Mbs connectivity.” Globally,11% of connections are at thatspeed, tracks Akamai, with 47countries now qualified for 4K-readiness using this metric.

“A lot of homes don't [havethis connectivity] which meansthey will not get UHD over theinternet yet,” he says.

“It's not just the last mile but upstream into the carriernetworks that is the challenge.Akamai has pioneered andadvocated serving media fromthe edge of the internet. That'swhy we place our platform ofmore than 150,000 servers inmore than 1,000 places aroundthe world to deliver on thedemand for video quality.

“But you can't have UHD orinteractive, personalised videoover IP if you can't get a higherquality and affordable viewingexperience at scale. That is oneof the grand challenges. We

have a large number of the mostintelligent people on the planetfocussed on solving thatproblem.”

Number crunching is whatAkamai does. The former MITprofessor, who enjoysresearching questions at theintersection of mathematics andcomputer science, says thatmath can overcome seeminglyimpossible barriers to scale thatsimply can't be done, affordably,with traditional approaches tomedia delivery.

“Math is a blend of art andscience,” says Leighton. “Thereis an intellectual rigour: whenyou prove it you know it's trueabsolutely. There's also a beautyand an elegance to it.

“I really didn’t have any desireto start a company. But I didhave a strong interest intechnology and in trying to makea difference in the world andsolve problems.”

Embracing change


Tom LeightonCo-Founder and CEO, AkamaiRegion: Worldwide


The billion dollar question“We want to

enable everyoneto go home andwatch an Ultra

HD video over IP”


Embracing change


“If theincumbents canfigure out howto move at webspeed then theycan continue tohold the lion’sshare of the

market”

The innovator's dilemma

The video industry is goingthrough what Pete Thompsoncalls a classic innovator’sdilemma: how to adopt newtechnology and businessmodels to keep pace with therapid changes in video deliveryand consumption while alsocontinuing to support and growthe traditional business.

“It’s about remaining relevantin the marketplace,” saysThompson, especially ascompanies like Netflix arereshaping consumers’expectations. “The question ishow to continue to grow existinginvestments at upwards of 20%a year but at the same timeposition to be ready for the newkinds of competition.”

Thompson lives in SiliconValley where innovation is key

and consumer relevance is whatit’s all about. With a backgroundin music and games, the 45-year-old joined Ericsson as partof its acquisition of Microsoft’sMediaroom Business inSeptember 2013. He and some500 Mediaroom softwareengineers were added toEricsson’s TV portfolio.

But the Mediaroom teamwasn’t shoe horned into anexisting Ericsson business;instead Thompson added some700 Ericsson employees to thenew business he now runs,including employees in Sweden,Canada, Atlanta. GA and China.

“The engineers from theMediaroom side work on theapplication layer of softwarewhere the competing companiesare Facebook and Google. This

brings a lot of new culture intoEricsson like how to set upsoftware development and gethigh-value margin out of it.”

For Thompson, the answer tokeeping ahead of the videoinnovation curve is to create a“smooth migration path” to amore modern technologyplatform while keep the existingbusiness model chugging along.

He believes that the biggestrisk to broadcasters is posed bythe digital giants like Google,Apple and Facebook becausethey are cash-rich and caninvest heavily to re-invent theentire TV stack.

“Rarely are the incumbentsthe ones that can innovate andrarely do they continue to ownthe biggest market share,”warns Thompson. “That said,there is a strong valueproposition to the aggregationand the bundling of videoservices and the ability to havehigh quality and live TV. You alsocannot assume that the qualitywill stay constant, so with 4Kand other things coming therecould be an on-going road mapwhere TV quality is difficult tomatch.”

4K is already a rich assetClyde Smith, the SVP of NewTechnology for Fox, has justfinished a complete overhaul ofhis facility in order to handleplayout to multiple secondscreen devices. He desperatelywants established IP standards,but 4K doesn’t worry him toomuch.

“We are already big users of4K in our football, baseball andNascar coverage, and havebeen using the technology forthree years very specifically,” hesays. “In football, for example,we shoot the sightlines in theend zones, and it gives usinsurance when there’s aquestion whether the player wasin or out of bounds. We can gointo that footage and extractgood HD out of it and in somecases show fans the little puffsof white dust where the foottouched the line. You'd neversee it in ordinary HD.”

There are additional benefitsfrom 4K, Smith finds. “We'vealready captured a ton ofwonderful stuff in 4K. It gives usfootage that we can study andwork on in the lab, and also invery many cases put into thearchive. We have some

memorable key plays, includingthose which have led to finalminute decisions and which willbe talked about for years tocome. It is already a very richasset.”

Smith says Fox is comfortablethat it could shoot a show end-to-end without too many issues.But ‘live’ sport is still a challenge.

“There are gaps in thecapabilities of the equipment.We are still faced with tooshallow a depth of field, and wehave sensitivity issues especiallyin night events. We are doing alot of lab work to betterunderstand how we can resolvethese issues.”

In part this is why Fox has notimeline to introduce 4K, claimsSmith. “I suspect when we dostart 4K we will all again besurprised at how long, andclose, people will look at thescreen. When we started in HDpeople were almost glued totheir sets. And they watched theHD commercials! But in thosedays the audience measurementsystems were not thatsophisticated. Now they are.Then, we couldn't monetise theimprovement in viewing quality.

Now we could, and the industryneeds to move to a census-typeratings system so that we canmonetise 4K.

“We are in a whole newexperience,” says Smith. “For most people the first time they ever saw HDTV was via a broadcast signal. Now, 4K is being watched today on Netflix and otherstreamed services. Online is first, then cable and satellite will follow, and poor oldbroadcast will be last. And inthe US, because of thebroadcast regulations, itmight be way off.”

The ATSC is draftingits ATSC v3 specificationfor the end of 2015,which will then take sixmonths for ratification.“Then the FCC has to acton that, and they’re notthe speediest oforganisations. So, we area way away from any earlyadoption by [US over-the-air] broadcast,” he says.

“Theindustryneeds tomove to a

census-typeratings

system sothat we can

monetise4K”

Clyde SmithSVP New Technology, Fox TVRegion: United States


Pete ThompsonSVP Mediaroom Business Group, EricssonRegion: Worldwide

Interviewed by: Kate Bulkley


When you are up against thelikes of deep-pocketedApple, Google, Intel and theworld’s telcos (each of whichwants to ‘own’ the home), itis vital to be thinking wellahead. Dr Ken Morse is thatdeep-thinker, and presented his thinking at IBC.Included in the mix is ArtificialIntelligence (AI), the Internetof Things (IoT) andmaintaining a role for the set-top box (STB) or ‘homegateway’.

“The world is changingfast, and this past year or twohas seen a huge proliferationof devices in the home. Weare also beginning to see theIoT really begin to matter. Thecombination of technologiesgoing into what we call‘edge’ devices as well ashome gateway products ischanging our worlddramatically,” says Morse.

“On the hardware side weall now expect routing to beautomatic, except that itrarely is. The functionalitythat we expect from our TVsand displays is becomingfurther and deeperembedded in those products.

“They are already IP-basedproducts, and so we areseeing IP to IP exchangesbetween devices – whichsounds complex but the userwants, in fact demands,simplicity. And this appliesnot just to the last mile but tothe last 10 metres in thehome. Video is nowfrequently wireless, andfrequently supporting manydevices.”

Morse admits that some ofhis Cisco colleagues might

have their own thoughts, buthis view is that to remove theSTB from the home would bevery difficult. “Remember, it isa low-cost, easy tomanufacture and deploy unit,and where you want anautonomous device that suitshow you send the signal intothe home. In my view itremains the very best choice,which is why it is used sovery much. The gateway isgoing to be around for sometime to come.”

And for the future Ciscohas its sights on the use of AIand the way decision-makingis happening in the homeenvironment. “It is the reasonwhy we think the homegateway device will have arole to play because we see itrequiring local decision-making. We are hugelyexcited by the prospects.

“It’s not about simpleautomation but aboutdecision-making in aconsumer-friendly way – anddoes not require you to be anIT super-hero in order to drivethe whole thing.”

Embracing change


Planning for AI, IoT andtomorrow’s STB

“We are alsobeginning to seethe Internet ofThings really

begin to matter”

Ken MorseCTO, Connected Devices, Cisco SystemsRegion: Worldwide



Untitled-1 1 17/09/2014 14:54

Doug Trumbull is a legend. Hisvisual effects magic features in2001: A Space Odyssey andBlade Runner. He directed thesci-fi classic Silent Runningwhich combined the smoothVFX futurism of Odyssey with arusty, space junk look that pre-dated Star Wars.

His invention of Showscan, ahypervivid film process thatcombined 70mm film with ahigh-speed frame rate, was apioneering moment for filmprojection. He invested inShowscan competitor IMAX,helping to bring the large formatout of its specialist niche into themainstream.

Trumbull, now 72, is at itagain. His new sci-fi shortUFOTOG, screened at IBC2014,is made using a new process ofhis own creation dubbed MAGI.

“The result is an immersivecinematic experience thatcannot be described in words,”he says. “You must see ityourself to understand thatMAGI offers an entirely newrelationship between you andthe action on the screen and a

new tool set for filmmakers.”His patented technique pairs

the 4K image from two camerasrigged for 3D and each shooting60 frames a second so alignedthat when played back through astandard 3D projector thepicture is delivered perfectly insync with the system's cadence.

“It delivers extreme fluidity ofmotion and amazing clarity withno strobing, no double flickeringand a viewing experience thatfar exceeds conventional moviequality,” he claims.

He is hoping the industry willpush to upgrade the DigitalCinema Package format (DCP)to embrace HFR technology. “Ibelieve movies can be muchmore powerful than they aretoday without any adverseproduction cost,” he says.

How is that possible? “Youstart with the production itself. Ifyou shoot a 3D movie, thecamera and lenses are thesame; the lighting, sets, actorsand props are all unchanged. Allthat changes is the data.Moore's Law is in our favour.Today you can buy a terabyte of

data for $50. The result is anexperience so much morepowerful [than current cinema]and revenues in theatres will beincreased.”

HFR has made a comeback,notably with Peter Jackson'sfirst two films of The Hobbitfilmed at 48fps, but the resultswere critically panned for theirvideo look.

“I feel personally, as afilmmaker, that applying a super vivid technology like 3DHFR to a fantasy subject mattermay be inappropriate,” he says.“The Hobbit fell victim to the'uncanny valley' [a term appliedto the gap in empathy in therendering of CG characters]. Butwhen you dramatically increasethe frame-rate to 120fps youjump over the valley to a wholenew territory.

“Cinema has known 24 fps for100 years and on modestlysized screens it's fabulous,” hestresses. “I'm not trying tochange that – or threaten it. Butif you want a different kind ofexperience, spectacular giantscreen movies like Lawrence of

Arabia, then MAGI could be anappropriate way to make thesekind of films.”

What about the aesthetic useof different frame rates within amovie? “Absolutely. I have apatent on it. In the same way wecan choose black and white orcolour or alter colour saturationor brightness or anything elsethe filmmaker has in theirtoolset, so the ability to changeframe rates on virtually any pixelas desired will become part ofcinema's future. For example, afilm may be conventional inevery aspect but when we get afast action sequence you couldramp up the frame rate to erasemotion blur.”

For decades it seems he hasmade a solo effort to pushcinema to new technicalfrontiers. He is also a realist.“The history of the motionpicture industry is that is slow toadopt new technologies. Yetwhen a single movie – Avatar –can compel the industry toadopt stereo 3D projection thistells you all you need to knowabout what the audience want.”

IBC Big Screen Experience


Douglas TrumbullFilmmaker


It’s a kind of

“The ability tochange frame

rates on virtuallyany pixel asdesired will

become part ofcinema's future”

MAGI


“Exhibitors who are enjoying the3D ticket premium need to stepup and install equipment that’sgoing to allow them to present3D in the proper brightness,”warns Don Shaw, senior directorof product management atChristie. “I’m not talking about3-4 footLamberts; I’m talkingabout 14 fL.”

Without that, he believes, 3Dbox office will decline.

At IBC2014, Christie (withDolby) and with the co-operationof 20th Century Fox, presented

a screening of 'Dawn of thePlanet of the Apes' and ‘Life ofPi’ in 14 fL 3D Christie 6P LaserProjection and Dolby Atmos -the first time any audience in theworld got to experience full-length feature films in fullbrightness 3D laser projection.

One way that Christie andother projector makers arelooking to address this issue iswith laser projection. “You canget a lot brighter image on thescreen with a laser projector,”Shaw says. “This is most

important for 3D presentations.In 2D you would have 14 fL ofbrightness; in 3D it’s often thecase that there’s only 3-4 fL ofbrightness on the screen.

“The overall effectiveness is aless immersive experience in 3D;people complain aboutheadaches and eyestrain; and at

the end of the day people areless willing to pay the premiumfor 3D film. Laser projection is atechnical solution to thisproblem.”

But, he adds, there are otheroptions for increasing brightnessdepending on screen size,particularly for small screens.“You can upsize your projector,go to dual Zenon [lamps], andfind more efficient 3D systems.Laser is just one tool in the

toolbox that’s more specificallyable to get higher brightness ona very large screen.”

But these new laser projectorsare not without challenges. “Thefirst challenge is cost (laserprojectors can run severalhundred thousand dollars),”Shaw says. “Probably part of theproblem is that VPFs (virtualprint fees) have not yet expired.”

These deals were developedto finance the digital cinematransition by having studioscontribute to the projector costby paying a ‘virtual print fee’ tothe exhibitor showing its movie.

“But a lot of the bigger chainshave the flexibility to move VPF-funded systems around to otherauditoriums in their chains astheir older units becomeobsolete,” Shaw adds.

“I believe that someday lampprojectors will be replaced—Idon’t know if that will be in 10years or 20 years,” he continues.“But exhibitors won’t have to

change lamps anymore and thatmeans they’ll be going to solidstate Illumination, whichgenerally means lasers for movietheatres. It’s just going to takesome time, like any othertechnology, to reach economiesof scale.”

What new opportunities lieahead for theatre owners? “Mostof the major chains have put inPremium Large Formatauditoriums and financially theyare doing very well with thoseauditoriums. But it is a limitedmarket; there are one or twothousand total in the world.”



Don ShawSenior Director Product Management,Entertainment Solutions Business,Christie Digital SystemsRegion: Canada

Interviewed by: Carolyn Giardina

Cinema's future is bright

“Exhibitors needto step up to

offer better 3D”

Howard LukkDirector, Pannon EntertainmentRegion: United States


In theory, all creative decisionsfrom focus to look can bemade in post to the benefit ofstorytelling and the bottom line.

Howard Lukk, formerly VPTechnology at Walt DisneyStudios, is an exponent of thattheory at PannonEntertainment. Computationalcinematography – or 'CompCine' as he dubs it – is not yetready for primetime, hebelieves; “but it has greatpotential and will eventually gomainstream.”

He was part of the team atDisney, with ARRI andFraunhofer HHI, that developeda trifocal system to shoot andpost the demonstration shortfilm Make Believe. Acquisitioncomprised an Alexa paired withtwo satellite mini-cams and isprimarily intended to eradicatethe disparities caused bymanually aligning two side-by-side cameras/lenses on astereoscopic rig.

However, multi-image arraysor cameras with plenopticlenses could work for 2D byallowing refocusing after thefact and to retrieve extendeddynamic range.

“The key advantage is thatyou can leave a lot of the

decisions to post so on the dayyou capture the entire light fieldand then manipulate the imagein post,” explains Lukk. “I knowthat scares cinematographerssince they want to be authorsof the image. I understand that.The authorship of the imagemoves into the post side so weneed to get cinematographersmore involved in that process.”

The trifocal “is a baby step”

in this direction but Lukkbelieves this is where cameramanufacturers should beplacing their R&D bucks. “Mostdevelopment is needed on thewitness cameras in terms ofgreater resolution and greaterdynamic range but Comp Cinewill be like the transitionbetween film and digital as faras its impact on workflow andpipelines is concerned.”

Lighting a scene for CompCine is just as important “untilnext generation LED andstrobe lighting which permityou to relight after the fact,” headds.

Lukk is also a SMPTEStandards director and, prior toDisney, was director oftechnology for DCI where he was responsible forresearching and documentingdigital cinema specifications.As such he keeps a keen eyeon high frame rates, which theindustry has stuttered toward.

“When we started on theDCI [specifications] we had to

lock on a single frame ratethroughout the motion picture rather than changingthe rate within the picturemainly to keep costs down,” heexplains. “As projectiontechnology improves there's noreason we couldn't switchframe rates on the fly openingup creative possibilities.

“I would like to see the useof shutter angles explored ... anangle at 240º all the way to a359°, combined with framerate, can make a big aestheticdifference. I'd also like to see2D films shot in HFR, wherethe story deserves it.”

“Multi-image arrays are a new typeof tool that cinematographers

should not shy away from”

Computational Cinematography


The virtualisation of digitalcinema mastering and itsintegration into other cloud-based services was RichardWelsh's topic at IBC2014’sEuropean Digital Cinema Forumevent, Global D-Cinema Update.“Ultimately movie delivery isgoing to move into thisenvironment, just in terms ofhow it gets to cinemas,” heasserts. “Not cloud on its own:content delivery networks are anincredibly important part of theequation, but the entire ITstructure element is what wehave to embrace. The cloud isactually quite well defined incomputing terms – it is thevirtualisation of physicalresource.”

Welsh started at Dolby as asound engineer. He moved intodigital cinema in 2003, and

subsequently fronted Dolby 3D.As Technicolor's head ofoperations for digital cinema, hegathered his ideas abouttransitioning post productionand delivery to the cloud. “It feltlike something that couldn’thappen within a largecorporation,” he says.

Teaming with former Dolbyengineering colleague ChristianRalph, Welsh developedsoftware for creating a cloud-based platform for computeintensive post productionprocesses and launched underthe banner of Sundog Media.

“The industry has been tryingto move from an interoperabletechnology to a true SMPTEstandard,” says Welsh, also aGovernor for SMPTE in EMEA.“That has been a difficultprocess because the industry

has struggled to roll that out.From all of my career positionsthe SMPTE DCP is the HolyGrail, but that has been a difficulttransition that has not actuallyhappened. It is something thatrequires a catalyst.

“The other issue is capitalinvestment. It is very difficult inthe current economic climate.Film has enjoyed incredibleperiods of stability with regard toformats. Broadcast has as well,but both are now finding thatformats are almost consumerdriven.

“Because we live in an ITworld there is no barrier to thatchange. However, we are in aback to front situation becauseyou have to make large capitalinvestments to support anyformats both in broadcastingand in movie making; there is ahell of a lot of resistance on thecontent side.”

Those rapidly changingformats and processes ought tobe supported in a more flexibleand operational way. “Do notspend the money on capex;spend it on opex. Move with theformats and only spend whatyou need to for doing the job,”urges Welsh.

The IT community is takingstandards more seriously, andsurely we need to see moreintegration between IT,telecoms, and media engineers?

“Yes. On one side you’ve gotthe infrastructure and thedelivery channel, and on theother you’ve got the picture andsound quality guys; actually weneed to merge and marry thosetwo. That’s where it’s going tobecome important,” says Welsh.

What did he want to getacross at IBC? “There are nolimitations on the infrastructureavailable from the larger cloudproviders. Those guys areservicing all sorts of industrysectors on a much larger scalethan our industry is ever going torequire,” he says.

“This is going to be one of thelast industries to switch over tothat way of thinking: I know thatparts of the media business,particularly on the delivery side,embrace cloud massively. Andcloud providers are leading theway in one respect, as they arebecoming content providers.You can transition to 4K in asnap if you are operating in avirtual environment because it isessentially an upgrade.”



“If you want toroll out a trailerfor a movie you

need 40-80media formatsjust to hit yourbroadcast and

internetdeliverables”

CloudDream factory moves to the

Richard WelshCo-founder and CEO, Sundog Media ToolkitRegion: UK

Interviewed by: George Jarrett


Untitled-5 1 18/09/2014 15:13

The FIFA World Cup is far and away the most popularsingle-sport event in the global calendar, and television audiences for its finals rival the Olympics. Since 2007, television coverageof the World Cup, along withother FIFA competitions, hasbeen the responsibility of FIFATV. This is to ensure thateveryone in the world benefitsfrom the highest qualitycoverage and innovations inservices.

Alongside the corebroadcasts, which have beenavailable in HD since the 2006competition in Germany, FIFA

TV continues to innovate. In2010 games were shot in 3Dand broadcast live by ESPNand shown in big screenvenues. In 2014 both 4K UltraHD and 8K Super Hi-Vision wasavailable at some matches,along with high frame ratecapture and 360˚ immersivevideo.

Social media and secondscreen applications developedfor the 2014 tournamentincluded the ability to selectadditional content and addedstatistics. 10 million apps weredownloaded, with peak dailyactivity by three million users.Online viewing is now a key part

of this offering, with a peakstreaming rate of 6.9 terabytesa second during theNetherlands vs Argentinamatch.

FIFA TV provides all of thecoverage of every game to anextraordinarily high standard.Rights-holding broadcastersaround the world simply takethe multi-lateral feed and addtheir own graphics andcommentary. They can achieve this consistency andquality by providing anunrivalled product, creativelyand technically.

For these reasons IBCbestowed The International

Honour for Excellence 2014 onFIFA TV.

“This award pays a fittingtribute to the dedication of ourindustry-leading serviceproviders who help us deliverthe very best coverage of theWorld Cup to football fans allover the world,” says NiclasEricson, director of FIFA TVdivision. “Together, we are ableto make the World Cup a trulyglobal experience for everyone.We look forward to continuingthis pioneering work with thebroadcast industry as we offerthe unique platform of the FIFAWorld Cup to help drivetechnology forward.”

The impact of new players


IBC International Honour for ExcellenceFIFA TV

Delivering a global experienceCopyright: FIFA




Who owns theaudience now?

Ella D’AmatoManaging Director, DrumRegion: UK

Interviewed by: Ann-Marie Corvin

How do agencies help brandsengage with audiences withad-funded content?“The opportunities are endless, andthe challenge is making sure yourclients are investing in the right type ofcontent for their audience, creatingcommunications products that addvalue. First, we work out what rolecontent should play in thecommunications mix and then we startwith what's interesting to the audiencethat the brand is trying to reach.”

Do these opportunities involveco-production partnerships orwill brands reach out directlyto consumers?“Partnering is a very effective way toreach a broad or targeted audiencewith credibility in the beginning.Knowing what a client's businessambition is for content helps youdetermine if long-term partnership isthe best way forward or if a brandshould create its own products/IPdirect. You've got to be prettyinteresting or entertaining to competewith the big guys and it most certainlyisn't the right strategy for lots of clients.A few will cut through and it will beexciting to watch those audiencesgrow.”

How do you keep multiplestakeholders happy and stillget the client's messageacross (as in What’s Cookingfunded by Sainsbury’s forChannel 4, managed by Drum)? “We always explain to our clients at thevery start of the journey that makingcontent is incredibly different to makingadvertising. The key is always keepingthe audience in mind first, then theclient’s needs. The broadcaster willalways be thinking about themselvesand rightly so: in the eyes of itsaudience they own the show, not theclient.

“Earlier this year ITV GroupCommercial Sales director SimonDaglish declared that ninety per cent ofall ad funded content is ‘crap’ and thatconsumers ‘don’t give a stuff aboutbrands’. Broadcasters like ITV don'tneed AFPs on their channels. If a showis good they will have enough moneyto fund it themselves.

“Simon isn't wrong, there is a lot ofrubbish out there. It's our job to makesure that we guide clients to createcontent they are proud of and, moreimportantly, the audience really values.Being part of the Omnicom networkmeans we get to witness some greatcontent stories in other territories too.For example, The Voice was createdby OMD Holland – originally forVodafone – and that show has donepretty well globally!”

“We guide clients tocreate content the

audience reallyvalues”




Erik HuggersFormer SVP, Verizon CommunicationsRegion: United States

Interviewed by: Andy Stout

Crossingthe divide

“UScorporations

may dominateEuropean

media for thenext decade”

Erik Huggers has been one of themost influential people in the rollout of IPTV. He joined the BBC in2007 and was responsible for theBBC's Online, iPlayer, Mobile andRed Button services, and also ledthe BBC’s Broadcast andEnterprise Technology Group,BBC Archives and BBC R&D.More recently, prior to joiningVerizon Communications,Huggers was President of IntelMedia working to reimagetelevision via the OnCue CloudTVplatform. He interrupted hiscurrent sabbatical to speak at theIBC Leaders’ Summit.

Looking back on thedevelopment of the iPlayer,is there anything you wouldhave done differently?My original ambition with iPlayerwas always to make it the defaultindustry platform for all UK free-to-air broadcasters. Imagine a singleplatform that would support bothpublic service broadcasters aswell as commercial broadcasters.The next logical step would be totake that product global and standa chance to compete with thelikes of Apple, Google, Amazonand Netflix. I very much regret nothaving pushed that idea harder.Having said that, it’s not too latefor someone else to run with it…

How do you see the netneutrality debate shakingout in the US?Recent developments have mevery worried about net neutrality.As far as I can tell there are twokey differences with the rest of theworld. First, in the US there is noreal competition in the high-speeddata market. US consumersmostly have a choice between twoproviders of which usually onlyone offers truly high-speedaccess. Second, it’s my belief thatthe regulators in Europe have real

teeth and are willing to bitewhereas in the US a formercable/wireless industry lobbyistruns the regulator.

Does linear broadcastingstill has a future?Linear TV remains essential in themedia mix for a very large portionof the audience. These are 50-year-old habits that have notchanged quickly. While we'veseen enormous increases in on-demand, most consumers simplydo not know what to watch andtrust their favourite channelsbrands to be the curator. In thelong run, live linear will become amedium for live sports and must-see TV where first run episodesare only available on the channel.Everything else moves to on-demand.

What has been the impactof new players to date?Companies like Netflix, Apple,Google and Amazon are leadingthe way by innovating with greatuser experiences, businessmodels and commissioning ofhigh quality internet first content.The board of every establishedmedia company is laser focusedon figuring out what thesechanges mean for them.

Is there anything you thinkEurope needs to learn fromAmerican practices? The main difference that I haveseen between Europe and the USwhen it comes to innovation in themedia space is the appetite forrisk and a willingness to think big.There's lots of incredible talent inEurope, but unfortunately it lacksthe ecosystem of companies andinvestors who have a drive tochange the world. As a resultmajor American corporations maydominate Europe's media spaceover the next decade.




Embracing

digital

At IBC2014 Tim Davie gave atrenchant explanation of therealities of transformation:specifically how BBC Worldwideis adapting to the new mediaworld. This is a strategy he ismore than familiar with since heis tasked with devising a plan toequip and safeguard this pre-eminent traditional mediabusiness for the future.

“The key to our success isthat we’ve never been afraid toexplore new opportunitiespresented to us by the digitallandscape,” he says. “Forexample, we were the first UKbroadcaster to partner withYouTube and our 11 branded

channels now have 6.2 millionsubscribers and saw viewsincrease by 42% last year to513.9m.

“We have established our keybrands on social media sites,with our Doctor Who Facebookpage alone attracting 4.7m fans.We’ve embraced the growth ofVoD by partnering with Hulu,Netflix and Amazon (dealsinclude: delivering over 2,000hours to Hulu in the US, OrphanBlack to Amazon and DoctorWho and Sherlock to Netflix).

“And we launched BBCWorldwide Labs in 2012, focusedon working with emerging talentin digital media to further our

understanding of how we cancontinue to be at the forefront ofdigital innovation and also ensurethey get the opportunities topartner with relevant businessesbe that ourselves or others. Todate we’ve struck businesspartnerships with 11 of the 18companies.”

He earmarks the emergingmarkets for the business asAsia, Latin America and CEMA.with BBCWW increasing itspresence on the ground there,and in established markets; “sothat we’re better positioned torespond to local demand for ourcontent, brands and products. Interms of emerging platforms,mobile remains key especiallywhere the delivery of BBC.comand video is concerned.”

BBCWW has been hugelysuccessful in monetising onlinecontent via BBC.com. Since thelaunch in 2007 BBC.com growthis 62% (CAGR) and in terms ofusage the site ended the lastfinancial year with an average of

78.9 million unique users.With Top Gear presenter

Jeremy Clarkson landing theBBC entertainment brand in hotwater recently with some allegedracist comments, long-runningsci-fi drama Doctor Who is thejewel in BBCWW's crown.

“Take the latest series forexample; we knew that theappetite for the first episode ofthe new series spanned theglobe following the success ofthe fiftieth anniversary, where wesimulcast The Day of The Doctorin 98 countries and 15languages.”

Fans across the globe werealso kept up to date with anambitious online and socialoffering. The show's YouTubechannel published 24 videosrelating to a promotional tour,which have generated nearly 1mviews to date.

“The rate of engagement tothis content is almost four timesthe normal rate we see on whatis already one of the most

engaged channels within ournetwork,” says Davie. “Nineteenpercent of views were off-platform, embedded acrossdozens of sites with Facebookdriving the most external traffic.Our content was viewed in all216 of YouTube’s territories, withboth Mexico and Brazil sittingwithin the top eight countries forviewing (in early September).”

Impressive indeed. But, BBCin-house produced contentaside, co-productions havenever been so important and inmost cases this now involvesmultiple partners. “For exampleFrozen Planet saw BBCWorldwide bring together sevenpartners, the highest number forone series. Last year we struckour first original co-productionwith Atresmedia on the dramaseries The Refugees; and webecame the BBC Natural HistoryUnit’s principal co-productionpartner following the end of itslong-running partnership withDiscovery.”

“We’ve never been afraid to explorenew opportunities presented to us

by the digital landscape”

Tim DavieCEO and Director Global, BBC WorldwideRegion: Global


Prior to taking up his current post in April 2013, Tim Davie was made acting BBC director-general from November2012. He joined the BBC in 2005 from PepsiCo Europe where he was SVP Marketing and Franchise. Among his othercurrent responsibilities he is chairman of the charity Comic Relief and vice chair of the Royal Television Society.




New brand funding

Five years ago, the idea thatonline video subscriptionservices like Netflix would beshaking up the broadcastingworld would have seen youlaughed out of most TVconferences. For prescientpeople like John Nolan, whosenew, uber-position at contentproducer All3Media is all abouthow to innovate fundingmodels for advertiser-supported content, the speedof acceptance of onlinesubscription models underlineshis view that ad-funded contentmust be the next outlier set tobecome mainstream.

Nolan is a more than 20-year-pioneer of what used to berather derogatorily calledadvertiser-funded programming(AFP) but has now becomemore acceptable (and betterproduced) and has itself beentransformed into ‘brandedcontent’ or ‘native advertising’.

“The online subscription

model is complex,sophisticated and successful asa funding model and there aresome very big players likeGoogle, Amazon and Apple’siTunes all in it,” says Nolan, MDof Apollo 20, the unit thatoversees branded contentacross the group of indieproductions companies underthe All3Media umbrella. “Thebusiness model that still hasn’tbeen cracked is ad-supportedvideo. How do advertisers getinvolved in consumerexperiences in these newplatforms? My job is toinnovate the funding model sothat brands can be part of themix.”

The key to the future forNolan is to recognise that theaudience owns their ownviewing schedule these daysand their only worry is whatthey are paying. “If people wantto watch Game of Thrones theydon’t care what platform,

channel or device it’s on. Whatthey do care about is how theyare paying for it.”

The fact that brands areinvolved in content funding isno longer controversial,certainly not for millennialviewers and also not forproducers and broadcasterswho are both looking for newways to fund programming.

Nolan has launched brand-funded channels on TV and

online as well as put togetherbrand-funded programmes likethe Talisker Whisky AtlanticChallenge and Shell Driven toExtremes, in conjunction withDiscovery. “Working at thegroup level of All3Media makesme busier and potentially moreprofitable. I have 10 deals I amworking on now.”

There is still some “tricky

work” to be done among thestakeholders of brand fundingbecause the creative agencieshave their own entertainmentdivisions; the media agencieshave set up content operations;and the media trading groupshave started acting like banksto fund programming andleverage distribution. Nolanbelieves that the answer is notto stick to legacy businessmodels but to innovate and

bring new money to theprogramme making anddistribution market.

“I am asking myself what arethe new commercial fundingmodels for long and short-formcontent,” says Nolan. “The keyis to not distinguish betweenthe different distributionplatforms because theconsumer doesn’t.”

John NolanManaging Director, Apollo 20, part of All3MediaRegion: UK


“The ad-funded market is nowmature enough to be genre-based”


Professor Brian Cox's books andTV programmes about sciencehave been read and watchedaround the world, and he is verymuch at the forefront of a newgeneration ofscientist/broadcasters makingscience engaging andaccessible to millions. Professorof Particle Physics atManchester University and a keypart of the ATLAS and the CERNLarge Hadron Collider projects,he is passionate about the roleof television in the 21st century.All of which made his IBC2014keynote ‘Television in anExpanding Universe’unmissable.

“It seems clear to me that thetrend will be towards increasingfragmentation and perhapstowards the elimination of the'channel' as we know it,” hesays. “That’s already happeningwith on-demand services likeiPlayer, Apple TV, etc. This will beseen as a good thing in somecircles, in the sense that therewill be more choice but there arealso significant downsides if yousee television as a powerfulcultural force.

“The increasingly old-fashioned model, wherechannels such as BBC1broadcast a diverse range ofprogrammes to a more captiveaudience, is important if you seeone of the functions of televisionas being to operate as part of theeducation system – introducingpeople to new ideas and newsubjects that they may nototherwise have comeacross,” he said.

“Whether this is arearguard action – and inreality, we’ll all have toghettoise at the feet of the

market – is a goodquestion. But even

if such

fragmentation is inevitable, wecan regret it and ask what thatwill do to society in the longerterm.”

There is of course a genuinethirst for knowledge. Cox saysthat he's met very few peoplenot interested in the greatquestions: Are we alone in theUniverse? How did the Universebegin and how will it end? Howdid life on Earth begin? How didhumans evolve? And even thenot so profound questions, suchas: What happens when you fallinto a black hole? Can we builda time machine?

“If science programming is onthe back foot then it is becauseof a lack of conviction amongstbroadcasters, and a lack ofappreciation of the responsibilityof the television industry,” hesays.

For the Professor, one problemin modern television is theamount of time and budget givento writing and pre-productionrather than the filming. People’stime is expensive, he believes,and that tends to compress thewriting phase. A relativelyinexpensive way to make betterprogrammes would be toallocate a slightly increasedbudget to the writing time.

Are some subjects, such as adetailed examination of quantummechanics, still largely beyondthe scope of primetimeexamination?

Not so, says Cox. “Theproblem with quantummechanics on screen is that it’svery difficult to make it visual.The ideas themselves are notun-presentable by any means.What we need is a cleverdirector or executive to come upwith a defining idea for a series.In Wonders of the Solar System,[head of BBC Science] AndrewCohen had a simple idea – tellthe story of the planets usinglandscapes on Earth. We needsomething similar for quantummechanics, and that’s the hardbit! The physics is easy.”

Preparing for the future


Professor Brian Cox OBERegion: UK


Television in anexpanding universe

“The responsibilityof the TV industryis to be at leastpartly Reithian”


Dramatic movie and TVnarratives are so last century.They are set in stone. Theaudience watches passively.But there's a revolution coming,claims Tre Azam, “bringing alevel of gaming interactivity tovideo that's never beenachieved before. Soon we willbe using our thoughts toparticipate in games, TV andmovies.”

His invention, MyndPlay, isone of a breed of emergingtechnology using brainwaves tocontrol what we can do withcontent. He describes MyndPlay(the company) as manufacturer,research house, service provider,consultant … and part Jedi.

Billed as the first mindcontrolled video and movie

platform, MyndPlay uses anEEG (electroence-phalograph)attached like a sweatbandaround your forehead to pick uptiny electrical signals from thebrain. “This tells us what state ofmind you are in. We then allowthat to control the direction orinfluence the outcome of amovie,” says Azam, whoconceived the idea whileworking as a trauma therapist.

In fact, the product usesNeuroSky's headset withMyndPlay's custom video playerto monitor mental activity duringcritical points in speciallydesigned films, and offersmultiple outcomes dependingon your focus and relaxationlevels.

“The basic premise was 'can

you make people have fun whilethey are training their brain? Yes,if you can make them realisethey are not training their brain.”

Existing films can be editedfor the technology, but contentcreated specifically forMyndPlay produces the bestresults. “The YouTubegeneration are experiencedvideo editors,” says Azam. “Ifyou can create content with amobile phone or camera thenyou can also create mind-controlled interactive games.”

Directors love it because itgives them a new way to seetheir movie and allows manypeople to have a differentexperience based on how theywatch it or feel it.”

Growing up in Hackney,

London, Azam started work atthe age of ten building PCs in hisfather's factory. In his teens, hewas teaching groups of menthree times his age about thetechnology.

A serial entrepreneur – viewersof the UK version of TheApprentice may recall hisappearance as a contestant in2007 – he started documentaryproduction outfit Treite Labs in2009 before launching MyndPlaythree years ago.

“I have about a hundred ideasa day but I have to go through aprocess of working out which totake forward. It has to beinnovative, imaginative andsomething that disrupts anindustry – and to make me alittle bit of money on the side.”



Mindovermatter

“Soon we willbe using ourthoughts to

participate ingames, TV and

movies”

Tre AzamCEO, MyndPlayRegion: UK





Joe InzerilloExecutive Vice President & CTO, Major League BaseballRegion: United States


Managingfragmentation

“We needstandards that

are actionable...and to dropsome of the

posturing”

“The complexities of theintersection of sport andtechnology and OTT haskicked toward a crescendo ofradically different business and distribution models in howwe communicate with our fans.The exciting part is that thereare a lot of validated models,and not necessary any of themare wrong. There may just bemany ways of talking to yourfans and getting content tothem.

“With all of theseopportunities comesenormous fragmentation— in the business model, thedevices, the technology. Thesethings take their toll on thebottom line. Fragmentation can be a good thing for making incremental dollars;sometimes those are offset bythe technical and operationalchallenges of delivering acrossthe array. It used to be that ifyou wanted to get a lot ofeyeballs watching something,you’d just buy a TV spot orparticipate on television. Now ifyou want to do the same thingyou may need 30 differenttouch points —Facebook,Twitter, TV, OTT. The big thing ismanaging the fragmentationand deciding when is the righttime to fragment to go after agroup of users you think aregoing to have some stayingpower versus things that arevery fad-like that you don’t seeas having a lot of traction.

“We sell a lot ofsubscriptions; we have oneof the largest sports OTTofferings that pay. We dosponsorships and advertisingas well. An advantage to sportsis, except for European football,we have built-in breaks. Thereare times where you can becharging for a subscription, butyou still have two minutes youhave to fill and people areexpecting advertising. I thinkthe most successful modelsthat we see are ones that havea blend of sponsors, advertisingand direct-to-consumer payproduct.

“Chunks of thetechnology sector arebleeding money out of thesports and entertainment areabecause of all thisfragmentation. That's reallyunnecessary. As an industry,the more we get standards thatmake sense and are actionable,and drop some of the posturingaround standards, the more itwould be better for everybody. Ifind it particularly interesting tosee how these differentbusiness models matureglobally. Traditionally, the TVmarkets have been verydifferent between the US andEurope and Asia. Some of thebusiness models that are directto consumer work in a moreuniversal way. Folk all aroundthe world can relate tosomething like Netflix. It’s anexciting time.”


IBC Leaders’ Summit


Steve Shannon

GM / SVP Content & Services, Roku

Alex Green

Director, TV, BT

Niclas Ericson

Director of TV, FIFA

David Bush

Marketing Director, Sony Professional Solutions Europe

Nicolas Bry

SVP, Orange Innovation

Bruce Tuchman

President, AMC Global and Sundance

Channel Global

IBC Leaders’

Michelle Munson

CEO and Co-Founder, Aspera Inc

Jette Nygaard- Andersen

EVP & CEO, MTG Nordic &Baltic Pay TV Broadcast

Operations, Modern Times Group

Jolyon Barker

Global Managing Director,TMT,

Deloitte

32,33 Executive IBC2014_final_www.creatixdesign.co.uk 17/09/2014 14:00 Page 1



Hugh Williams

Co-Founder and Director, Cirkus TV

Lesley MacKenzie

EVP E-Entertainment, ProSiebenSat.1 Media

Graham Lovelace

IBC,Content Editor

Ingrid Deltenre

Director General, EBU

Darren Childs

CEO, UKTV

Summit

Paul Lee

TMT Head of Research, Deloitte

David Abraham

CEO, Channel 4

Andrew Neil

IBC Leaders' Summit Anchor

Richard Lindsay-Davies

CEO, Digital TV Group

32,33 Executive IBC2014_final_www.creatixdesign.co.uk 17/09/2014 14:01 Page 2



The IBC Leaders’ Summit is an exclusive invitation-only event for 150leaders of the electronic media and entertainment industry. It blendspenetrating insights from influential speakers, independent and exclusiveresearch from Deloitte, and the collaborative participation of C-leveldelegates in a day-long event that informs and shapes future strategy.

Designed specifically for the most influential and visionary people at thetop of the industry, it took place behind closed doors so delegates couldspeak their minds, address the issues, and highlight their concerns in anopen, inspiring environment.

The theme of this year’s Summit was Leading Innovation and Change.Four high-level sessions, hosted once again by writer and broadcasterAndrew Neil, provided senior-level insights from thought leaders at theforefront of implementing change and innovation across the industry.

The IBC Daily Executive asked the keynote speakers to share some bluesky thinking about what technology they felt was going to disrupt orinnovate media and entertainment in creation, management or distributionover the next 18 months, and also to indicate what technology excitesthem most when imagining media and entertainment in two decades time. We hope you find their answers enlightening.

The next generation ofinnovation in entertainment willbe virtual pay-TV services. Iexpect we will begin to seemany mainstream pay TVplayers begin to offer their

bundled packages over theinternet, with customersstreaming entertainment to theirTV. These packages will be unique compared with traditional pay TV services,

with lots of great software andunique content to go with it.

I think that Bitcoin has thepotential to be disruptive overthe next few years. As anexample, credit card fees are

insanely high, especially onsmaller transactions. Bitcoincould solve that, and manyother challenges that the banksand credit card companies puton the digital economy.

Steve Shannon, GM Content & Services, Roku

The alchemists will find a wayto blend real UHD (i.e. higherpixels, frame rate, dynamicrange and colour gamut) with data (personal, group,small and big) driven targeted distribution. This will

be with a new tailoredsubscription and advertisingmodels. No mean feat! When itcomes to my vision of TV 2020,I have always believed thatdiscrete video walls will oneday allow us to immerse

ourselves in a great sport ormovie experiences whilstenabling a far less imposingviewing experience of general TV. This same flexibility, plus a fully connected world, will unleash

the true potential of connected learning, healthmonitoring and diagnosticapplications that are critical tothe future of affordableeducation, health and socialservices.

Richard Lindsay-Davies, CEO, Digital TV Group

The most crucial technologiesare those that accelerate theglobal transformation towardstrue TV Anywhere. Cloudapproaches with broadbanddelivery are critical. Ericssonalso believes that LTEbroadcast will revolutionise

video delivery and transform the way consumers access content. It’s also clear that UHDTVservices will become acommercial reality as TVviewers demand moreimmersive, higher quality

experiences. In Ericsson’svision of the networkedsociety, by 2020 there will be 50 billion devices, 15 billion of which are video enabled. As we move towards this connected world, we see a

wealth of opportunities fortechnology to bringentertainment, education andinformation to an expandingglobal digital market,empowering people,businesses and society as awhole.

Per Borgklint, SVP and Head of Business Unit Support Solutions, Ericsson

Leading innovation and change

34,35,36 Executive IBC2014_final_www.creatixdesign.co.uk 17/09/2014 13:55 Page 1



TV will become even moreportable in the next 18 months.Portable TV means a global connected experienceover the day: you can start andresume your live show or on-demand video on any device,living room TV set, secondaryTV set in the bedroom or

tablet, 4G empoweredsmartphone or tablet, in aconsistent experience. It’s alsoabout snacking TV all over theday; short video coming fromyour social networks, orcontent discovery from socialTV feeds, or personalrecommendation, that you will

save for later. In this context,smart phones will be evenmore your remote control forlife.

Furthermore, an extensiveecosystem is soaringcombining the IoT/connectedobjects/wearable devices/bigdata and APIs.

It will transform all industries,including media andentertainment, creating morepersonalised realtimeexperiences, andsimultaneously extending the collective social experience aroundbroadcasting.

Nicolas Bry, SVP, Orange Innovation

I think we are going to seerapid advances in thecontinued integration andexploitation of content across all platforms, with theuse of social media and

sharing driving the consumer experience to new levels. This means thatFIFA will be able to use itsupcoming production and thecontent we create in many

more ways to enhance the fan experience at ourcompetition. I believe that in 20 years’ time almost anyaudiovisual experience could be possible. We will

have the kind of technologythat can truly recreate the full stadium experience ofwatching a FIFA World Cup match in your own living room.

Niclas Ericson, Director TV Division, FIFA

A disruptive trend we both seeand actively participate in is thegrowing use of cloud for mediamanagement, transformation,archival and delivery – even forlive applications as recentlydemonstrated during the world

soccer tournament. It is nowpossible to send multiple digital camera feeds to thecloud using high-speed datatransport, encode in near realtime in the cloud andsimultaneously deliver full

resolution video to broadcasterson a global scale and streamcontent to the web in a varietyof formats with only a fewframes delay between captureand consumption. This opensthe door to new ways for

consumers to view live, highresolution video on whicheverscreen they choose and forcontent owners to offerincreasingly more value withevery new digital experiencethey provide.

Michelle Munson, President & CEO, Aspera

Enabling consumers to getaccess to content that theyreally want, programmes thatthey may have missed, contentthat they might not even knowthey will love. Data enables usto drive that consumerexperience and I believe that

personalised programming isone of the innovating trendsthat will emerge fully in the next18 months.

If you asked me thisquestion 20 years ago I wouldnever had guessed theprogression of OTT

distribution, the evolution ofdevices and the popularity ofviewing on demand. So looking20 years ahead, I believe masstelevision will still be dominatedby big programming brandsdistributed by well known'broadcasters' on an on-

demand basis which isviewable whether one is athome, outdoors or on holiday.A small handheld device thatprojects high quality imagesonto surfaces like video wallTV, I believe will be the TV ofthe future.

Lesley MacKenzie, EVP E-Entertainment, ProSiebenSat.1 Media

The effective harvesting andmanagement of data will betterfacilitate personalisation ofcontent, services and pricepackages for consumers. It willalso facilitate new revenuestreams for media owners likegaming services, e-commerce,product placement. The

migration of services such asrecording and storing data inthe cloud will give consumers the chance towatch content without a settop box, across multipledevices. While delivering a hostof benefits to service operatorsit will also create considerable

issues around rightsmanagement.

By 2020 content will becomemore immersive, more of anexperience. If I were aLiverpool supporter I mightexpect to be able to choosewhich part of the ground Iwatch the game from on TV,

perhaps a 360-degree view ofthe stadium so that I can turnaround and see the crowd; orfrom the position of the referee.I'll certainly be able to watch ina seamless way with my friend200 miles away, chatting in real time as though she satnext to me.

Jette Nygaard Anderson, EVP & CEO, MTG Nordic & Baltic Pay TV Broadcast Operations, MTG




There is much still to discoverin terms of UHDTV. The EBUTechnology and InnovationDepartment is collaboratingwith many bodies around theworld to establish the bestfoundation for any futureUHDTV phase-2 standard that should include highdynamic range, higher framerates and Immersive multi-

channel audio. This willcontinue to advance but willnot reach a mass market untilreceiver prices fall to a moremanageable price point andbroadcasters and contentproducers can justify theinvestments in next generationinfrastructures.

With an unconstrained viewof the future, one can imagine

multiple ways that mediadevices might evolve forconsumer use in the home, theworkplace and on-the-move-locations. For example:wearable devices lendthemselves towards newprogramming where users and viewers can compareresults and submit the highest rankings. Producers

will need to develop newpolicies for dealing withparameters they could notimagine today. The trendtowards on-demand contentwill become even stronger asthe content choice broadens.Curation based on algorithmswill become increasinglyimportant. Interesting to saythe least!

Ingrid Deltenre, Director General, European Broadcasting Union

I believe that H265/HEVC asthe next generation videocompression technology will have a major impact on the industry. Not only will itmake Ultra HD possible, but

more importantly push mobilevideo to the next level. It will bevery interesting to see whatimpact products like OculusVR have on the industry. These platforms have been

around for a long time, butperhaps the time has finallycome. Furthermore, I amexcited to see what happenswhen technologies like AppleAirplay and Google

Chromecast get more stableand mature. When thathappens, streaming video froma mobile device to a TV setcould become much morecommonplace.

Erik Huggers, Former Senior Vice President, Verizon Communications

Though it’s been here for the lastcouple of years, Ultra HD willcontinue to be the focal point forinnovation over the next 18months. What’s even moreexciting is that this will be inparallel with the growth of live IPvideo production. IP promises

the possibility of realtime, cable-free remote production over longdistances, from multiplelocations. This will revolutionisethe way broadcasters operate.

The proliferation and spreadof mobile and connecteddevices promises to extend to all

corners of the globe, includingthe Third World, providinglocation-agnostic connectivityfor every person on the planet.The advancement of super-computing and artificialintelligence is also leadingtowards sophisticated long-term

prediction of everything from weather patterns toconsumer viewing habits.Together, these innovationspromise constant contentdemand and highly refined tailoring of content toaudiences.

David Bush, Marketing Director, Sony Professional Solutions Europe

In the very long term thedebate will be around therelationship between lineartransmission and onlinebroadband distribution andwhere is the equilibriumbetween those two

distribution systems. What will be the underlyingeconomics and physics be ofthose two systems? Currently, if we had screenedthe World Cup in a broadbandonly world no-one would have

got to see any of the matches. Everything would have crashed. That’s inthe current world. So people can get excited bythe online viewing that isoccurring, but the system is

not able to deliver what linearcan. So the question remains –is the long-term future a hybridone or one where thebroadband world delivers morestability? No one knows that atthe moment.

David Abraham, CEO, Channel 4

I would like to see a worldwhere every household item,from the paint you put on yourwalls to the clothes you put onyour body, are embedded withthe smallest processing chipsso that you see what you want,

where you want, any time youwant, any size you want.Twenty years from now it willbe about the mobility andubiquity of content. That will bea given and the ease of use willbe extraordinary. The delivery

mechanisms will have to get upto speed to accommodatethat. Content will follow youseamlessly. From a legal pointof view, rights need to adapt tothat all-encompassing,ubiquity. But the iPhone would

have been inconceivabletwenty years ago, it’s so thin,so fast, has so much storage,so I wonder if what we willhave twenty years in the futureis inconceivable from here andnow.

Bruce Tuchman,President, AMC Global and Sundance Channel Global


Over the past two decadesworking in the broadcastindustry, Bruce Tuchman hasbeen intimately involved withmany channels andbroadcasters. Having firsttrained as a lawyer, he helpedoversee international expansionfor MTV Networks, Nickelodeonand MGM Worldwide Networks,before joining AMC Networks.He currently serves as Presidentat AMC - Asia Pacific Global, aswell as president, SundanceChannel Global, leading thestrategic distribution,programming and marketing ofboth. An expert on internationalbroadcast and regulation, hespoke at this year’s Leaders’Summit and also keynoted IBC'sopening debate 'Assessing thehealth of broadcast TV.'

“In the past month we’vebeen noticing that we’re over theworst of the challenges thatcame out of the economic crisisin 2008 and we’re now startingto see expansion,” he says.“We’re seeing markets bouncingback — and even growing — inSpain, Greece and other places.Plus operators are very keen toaddress the challenges broughtabout by new distributiontechnologies.”

Asked how close we are tocreating homogenous globalmarkets for broadcastprogramming and whether thatwould be a good thing, he isclear. “No, and it may always beno, but with qualifications. Ifsomething is good it’s going totranslate. The Hollywood studioshave been doing that fordecades; taking somethingprovincially American andmarketing it around the world.

“In 1994 I could not see anychannels from India in the US,and now I can see what’s goingon everywhere. The barriershave come down and exposedpeople to more things and widerthings. But that doesn’t meanthat people only want to see one

type of programme or genre,there will always be a market formartial arts films in the East,quirky independents in France,and baseball in the US.”

Casting his eye back over hisextensive career Tuchmandescribes it as an unbelievablydramatic twenty years. “If youlook at it on a global basis, westarted at a very limited, freebroadcast environment. Formost markets that representedthe advent of pay TV, the adventof multichannel, and now peopleare asking what comes next.

“It remains amusing to methat when you’re negotiating orstrategising in the business dayto day, so much of thecommunication isall about, forlack of a betterterm, newmedia. But it’sthe oppositeforconsumers.If I use theterm OTT

in front of my most media savvyneighbours, they’re like ‘Stop,what are you talking about?’ It’sall about the impact of digitaltechnology, whether that’s in aclosed or open environment,and though it may not havereverberated with the massmarket much so far, it will soon.Years from now, if not sooner,we really will transform thebusiness.”

The question for Tuchman isnot whether to shift to IPdistribution models but who willbreak through first. “Everyonewill have to accommodate andmove to these digital modes,” hesays. “Alongside your linearoffering you have to have a verycohesive and eco-systemfriendly on-demand offering.Those who don’t embrace thatwill be the ones who getdisrupted in turn.”

Taking the pulse


Embrace disruptivetechnologiesBruce TuchmanPresident, AMC Global and Sundance Channel GlobalRegion: Worldwide


“Those who don’t embracedigital will be the ones who

get disrupted in turn”


Taking the pulse


Charlie VogtCEO, Imagine CommunicationsRegion: Worldwide


The future of broadcasting isabout IP protocols andsoftware-definedenvironments that can takeadvantage of mobility,virtualisation and the cloudsays Charlie Vogt, CEO ofImagine Communications.

With this vision, he predictsa bright future forbroadcasters and OTT players,but asserts that there are “veryfew suppliers that get it andare prepared at the scaleneeded to participate in thewindow of time that’s going tobe necessary.”

He continues: “It's said thatthere are tens of thousands of‘snowflake’ networks thatwere designed in their ownway, and that has created a lot

of limitations for thosebroadcasters and contentdistributors to participate inthe ‘future’ network.

“Networks need to migrateaway from hardware to thosethat are defined by software,and move from proprietary toan open service-orientednetwork architecture. Theyneed to standardise on IP, andtake advantage of mobility,virtualisation and the cloud.”

With this model, clients"don't have to upgrade theirnetwork every 4-5 yearsbecause the hardware that’stethered to the software has tobe upgraded. Some very large

players see this as anopportunity to grow, andthere’s certainly a lot ofconvergence between thetraditional IT and telco andMSO landscape with thetraditional broadcaster. I thinkthat consolidation is going tospur a tremendous amount ofinnovation.”

Vogt — who joined Imaginein the summer of 2013 and ledit through a transformativeyear during which it shiftedfrom its longtime moniker ofHarris Broadcast and acquiredcompanies including DigitalRapids — believes theinnovation will occur duringthis decade. “There’s going tobe some early adopters in2015, and a second wave in

2016 and 2017, and before2020 a lot of the majorbroadcasters and OTT playersare going to be participating.”

He warns that what theplayers will need to watch iscompetition from those whoare building out “more efficientand cost effective ways toprovide content.”

On other topics generatingattention, Vogt is sceptical thatthere’s an opportunity affordedby higher resolution. “I don'tsee the large distributionnetworks racing to deliver 4Kwhen they are not fullymonetising HD yet. What is theROI for 4K? I don’t see it yet.”�

futuresoftware-defined

The

“Consolidation is going to spur atremendous amount of innovation”

“What is the ROIfor 4K? I don’t

see it yet”


By encouraging viewers to visita separate universe for catch upTV and on demand,broadcasters are becomingimprisoned by their linear pathwarns Channel 4 chief executiveDavid Abraham.

“If you perennially build uponline brands such as theiPlayer or ITV Player into thisdestination, then in the longterm you are moving towardsdiscontinuation of your linearbrands,” he says. “Broadcastersneed to get them to worktogether – that way you areconstantly reinforcing thestrengths of both sides of whatyou do.”

Abraham used IBC2014 toannounce the broadcaster’sintent to discontinue its well-established 4oD platform lateron this year in favour of a morecohesive, All 4 offering.

This is a bold move,considering the free to aircommercial broadcaster’splatform is performing wellcommercially – last year itsonline revenues grew to reach£60m. It has also now rackedup 11m registered viewers andboasts the usership of half of all16-24 year olds, the ad man’sdream demographic.

As Abraham demonstrated atthe conference, All 4 –scheduled to be launchediteratively over the course of2015 – promises to be morethan just a catch up service andfeatures a home page offeringarchive, simulcasts or a comingnext option.

Further layers incorporateelements such as thebroadcaster’s short formcontent service, which launchedthis summer, as well asinteractive gaming.

All 4 will use the channel’siconic ‘4’ logo to represent all itschannel brands – which arereflected by several distinctivelycolour-branded animationblocks, which all link up to formthe figure. A viewer may moveseamlessly from one block toanother and the purple E4 blockwill be replaced by Film4’s red

block.The former advertising

executive, who has also workedfor Discovery Networks in theUS and the UK, thinks that thechannel-branding element isimportant for the channel tomaintain.

“There is enduring strength inchannel brands,” he says,“Ultimately linear brands arenavigational tools – ways ofreducing down infinite choiceinto something moremanagable.”

Thanks to Channel 4’s ‘BigData’ initiative, which for thepast three years has seen thebroadcaster use Amazon’scloud services to crunch vastamounts of user data, the All 4experience will be increasinglypersonalised, containingrecommendations based onviewing habits as well ascarrying targeted advertising.

“We will be able to knowwho you are, what you like,what device you are usingand where you arewatching us, which willallow us to tailor the userexperience accordingly,”adds Abraham.

As well as increasedpersonalisation and adtargeting there is a thirdarea that observers havespeculated big data canplay a part in – thetesting of programmeideas for TVcommissioning.However, Abrahamthinks thisaspect of theinitiative hasbeen over-egged.

“It hasbeen

reported that Netflix literally docommissioning by data, but I’mslightly dubious about that. Ithink they look at the data andthen make similar decisions aswe do about what viewer’stastes are. Big data does notspell the death ofcommissioning editors.”

He does, however, think thatit spells the beginning of newrevenue streams. “Our onlinebusiness has the potential to bea £100m business and I expectmore than half of that revenueto be data driven or enabled –so it’s driving yield and growth.

He adds: “We’ve effectivelycreated a market that didn’texist before – where bigadvertisers can use the toolsthat we’ve now got to targetand advertise in an ever-morepersonalised way. “

Taking the pulse


All together now“Having separate

universes for catch up,VOD and linear TV is a

big mistake”David AbrahamCEO, Channel 4Region: UK



It’s safe to say that the one thingthat is keeping Denise Turner upat night is how to track and ratepeople’s attention. In a world ofmultiple screens, she says thatad agencies like hers are underpressure to figure out how muchattention at any one time peopleare giving to their TV versus theirtablet or other connecteddevice.

It’s an importantquestion because theanswer will dictatenot only where adagencies put theirclients’advertisements andsponsorshipmessages, but also what pricesthey can charge for them.

“There are differentmeasurements for differentdevices and we need to connectthe dots on that,” says Turner,managing partner and chiefinsight officer for Havas MediaGroup, part of one of the biggestglobal advertising and publicrelations firms. “I’m notsuggesting that it’s easy but ifwe can do that, that would bethe Holy Grail.”

The dilemma is two-fold. First,effective cross-device andcross-platform measurement isstill sorting itself out. In the UK,TV audience measurement firmBARB has launched ProjectDovetail to track viewing onother devices as well astraditional TV viewing on the bigscreen in the lounge. Second,there is what Turner calls thecontinuous partial attentionphenomenon. “With laptops itwas one thing but withgrowing tablet usage this ismuch more prolific and itmeans we never seemto have someone’s fullattention.”

While she isimpressed with thework being done byBSkyB with its settop box datameasurement, theproblem is that Sky’sdata does not give a“full picture” of how all

people are viewing a particularshow.

“The Sky view data isimpressive but it is householdbased and not person based likeBARB data and so it does notgive the total picture,” saysTurner. “Sky is less than half thehouseholds in the UK … We areinterested in how much peopleare watching XFactor in Virgin

Media and Freeviewhomes as well as inSky homes. Sky’sdata gives you a goodsteer but if you wantto know the completepicture of the deliveryof your client’s spots

then you need to use BARB.”Turner also thinks there is a

big challenge to measuring theviewing of short form content onYouTube and other onlinesites. “With BARB youmeasure loyalty throughminutes watched butwith short formcontent you have tochange yourdefinitions andalso thinkabout who ischoosing toview thatkind ofcontent.”

Taking the pulse


Joining the dots

“We live in abite-sizedattentioneconomy”

Denise TurnerManaging Partner and Chief Insight Officer,Havas Media GroupRegion: UK



Enders Analysis has gained areputation as a sage amongconsultants to the TV industry,so when one of its seniorexecutives warns of the threatposed by connected TVs tosmaller channels it's worthpaying attention. Enderspredicts that 60% of TV sets inthe UK will be connected to theinternet in three or four years’time, which poses a threat tosmaller channels because theiraudiences are so small already.

Smart phones and tablets willtake away some viewing fromthe traditional big broadcasters.But they can retain the bigaudiences if they are smart.

“When you are talking aboutan existing public service

broadcaster with strong contentoffers, including live sport andbig Saturday nightentertainment and long-runningsoaps, then the audience isreally theirs to lose,” says GillHind. “The average viewer isconsuming over four hours ofTV a day and for a large part ofthe older demographic that willremain on the main set becausethat is a hard habit to break.”

Online video is attractingincreasing amounts ofadvertising, but Hind says thatproportionate to TV advertising,the numbers will remain, for theforeseeable future, quite small,with the majority of online videoads going to traditionalbroadcasters’ content that hasbeen put online.

“We think that online videoadvertising has impacted pressdisplay advertising more thanTV revenue,” she says. “Goingforward it will start to impact TVa bit more. Whereas now onlinevideo adverts represent 3% oftotal TV advertising, in threeyears it will be 6% to 7% oftotal TV revenues.”

Hind believes thatbroadcasters need to thinkabout three things in particularas they embrace the newconnected TV and device worldof audience consumption. First,the need to put more resourcesinto the distribution of content,making sure that it is availableon all devices. “This is a changein technical resources but it is

also requires a change inmindset,” says Hind.

Second, she believesbroadcasters have to be clever about how they useshort-form content, particularly as a marketing toolto drive audiences to theirlonger-form programmingwhere they should continue tobe able to attract biggeraudiences and more lucrativeadvertising.

Third, the role of data, andunderstanding how to trackaudiences as they move fromTV to other devices, needs tobe front and centre. “Trackingyour viewers and targetingadvertising across TV, tabletsand PCs and wherever else theaudience might be, is key.”

Taking the pulse


A hard habitto break

Gill HindCOO, Enders AnalysisRegion: UK


“Getting the measurement system correct has to be top

of broadcasters’ and advertisers’ agendas”


In 2009, after 30 years at theBBC, Richard Sambrook, itsdirector of global news,departed the corporation topursue his career in consultancyand academia. He has beenvocal in urging broadcasters likethe BBC, CNN or France 24 tochange their act ever since.

“In some ways the biggestproblem for news organisationsis in the future,” he told the IBCConference. “TV is still thebiggest platform for news andpeople receive their news fromthis medium more than anyother.”

But, says Sambrook, theaudience is changing the way itwants to receive news, a changebrought about by theextraordinary rise in mobiledevices and social media. Whatthis has done is polarisepeople's appetite for newsbetween up to the minute

breaking news and in-depthspecialist news that can bemonetised, since people areprepared to pay to get it. In themiddle it is dead and that iswhere TV news had traditionallysat.”

He adds, “It is command andcontrol: we tell you what wethink you need to know.Broadcasters haveexperimented with differentways to be responsive (such ason-air Twitter feeds) but theefforts have been a bit clunky.”

The main technology thatSambrook thinks newsorganisations need to take heedof is the connected TV.

“Smart TVs are not quitemainstream,” he says. “The userexperience feels a bit like thevery early mobile phones i.e notgreat. But it will improve rapidly.So when you get a big computerscreen in the living room that

can get anything from socialmedia to web and mobile – whatdoes this mean for traditional TVnews producers?”

The issue is most acute, hefeels, with 24 hour channels, aquarter of a century old conceptnow outflanked by the internet.

“I'm not suggesting 24 hournews should close or changeovernight. Or that the eveningbulletins should change – that isstill a profitable use of airtime.But broadcasters do need tolook at how they can betterintegrate digital with thebroadcast platform.”

He likens TV news tonewspaper publishers a decadeago. Newspapers had to learnthat 'digital first' was more thana slogan – it meant creatingentirely different contentdistributed in an entirely differentway to consumers.

“In the '70s we flew film back

from location. In the 80s we hadmobile sat trucks and SNG in asuitcase. Today, mostnewsgathering and distributionis done by IP. The mindset ofthese organisations is stuck inthe satellite age whereasaudience demands arechanging.”

He knows that it is not so easyfor large organisations to altercourse but argues that theculture of change is not beingpushed hard enough rightthrough the operation. While thisinertia is ongoing, the newsagenda could be wrestled fromtheir control.

“Some audiences want to beactive in news selection andsome want to be told what atrusted news organisation thinksis important. I think audiencesare not prepared tounquestioningly accept whatthey are told.”

Taking the pulse


Richard SambrookProfessor of Journalism, Cardiff UniversityRegion: UK


Command and control news is dead

“Audiences are not preparedto unquestioningly accept

what they are told”


Taking the pulse


A true digital single market

EU vice president Neelie Kroeshas pursued a strong drive tosee consumer benefits intelecoms (such as reduction ofroaming fees) across Europe.“We should be proud of thelevels of competition we havepromoted in Europe,” she says.“It would not help Europe tomove towards US-styleduopoly. That said, we need tosee that competition is not justabout price competition:quality, and infrastructurecompetition matter too. TheCommission has made alegislative proposal to makeprogress towards a trueinternal market for telecoms.”

Kroes is also fully behind 5G.“5G will offer totally newpossibilities to connect people,and also things – cars, houses,energy infrastructures. All ofthem at once, wherever youand they are. This is hugelyexciting. However, we are still adecade away from 5Gdeployment and we still do nothave an EU-wide 4G networkon which 5G will be built.

“Things are improving, butslowly,” she says. “Wirelessbroadband spectrum at 800MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz andmany bands above those havealready been enabled for 4G bythe EU. Under the RadioSpectrum Policy Programme,Member States have to ensurethat these bands are madeavailable to operators, withsome temporary exceptions inthe 800 band. It is much easierto implement 4G now than 3Gwas in the year 2000. 80% ofthe EU population is expectedto be covered by LTE in 2018,but we can do much better.”

Kroes is widelyacknowledged as being atough cookie. One nicknamegiven to her by Dutchcolleagues is ‘Nickel Neelie’because of her acknowledgedhabit of knocking headstogether to push her agendaforward.

“For almost five years I'vebeen urging Member States tolicense their 4G spectrum,facilitate investment in wirelessbroadband and extendcoverage beyond urban areasso that no-one is left behind,”she says. “It's time for EUcountries to put 4Gdeployment at the top of theirdigital to-do list, and support atrue Digital Single Market.”

Earlier this year she launcheda Public-Private Partnership on5G. The EU is investing €700mover the next seven years andEU industry is set to match thisinvestment by up to five times,to more than €3bn.

“But we need to think

beyond borders and come upwith a global approach towards5G by the end of 2015. Theclock is ticking but there is alsoreal progress. Just a few weeksago we agreed with SouthKorea to cooperate on drivingthis forward and we arediscussing with otherinternational partners, too.”

She recognises thatconsumer demand is stretchingsome suppliers to their limits.“Traffic is almost doublingevery year and telcos are all tooaware of pressure on theirnetworks. In the longer term,5G can help networks addcapacity and improve capacitymanagement. But thefundamental and moreimmediate problem is thatnetwork operators have not,and are not, investing enoughin networks.”

Simply put, she says themain business of Europe'stelecoms operators is sellingand providing internet access.Consumer demand and use is

booming and it doesn't makecommercial sense foroperators to under-develop orhave sub-standard networks ina competitive market.

Kroes is also a fan of Ultra-HD, and says the buildingblocks are now in place. “Weexpect to see full deploymentof Ultra-HD by about 2020. TheRio Olympics and othersporting events will be majordrivers for take up. I'm pleasedto note that non-traditionalbroadcast players, includingmobile operators, are alsoincreasingly interested in 4K TVand are running trials over 4G.The EU is also helping fundresearch to advance theadoption of open systems andstandards like HbbTV.

“But more broadly theintroduction of newtechnologies will certainly have an impact on Europe'sexisting broadcast landscapeof public broadcasters,commercial broadcasters andpay TV operators. Thetechnical and legal conditions under which thistechnology is introducedshould neither favour norexclude certain market players.To ensure media pluralismconsumers have to haveaccess to competing marketplayers.”

“It's time for EUcountries to put4G at the top of

their digital to-do list”

Neelie KroesVice President, European CommissionRegion: Europe



Untitled-1 1 17/09/2014 15:27

Taking the pulse


Karl-Heinz LaudanVice President, Spectrum Policy, Deutsche TelekomRegion: Germany


Judicious approach reapsdividends

Karl-Heinz Laudan brought achilling logic to the great spectrumdebate at IBC2014. Answering thepoint that free to air TV issacrosanct to recipientconsumers, and the notion thatlosing 700 MHz is as far asbroadcasters can afford to go, hesaid: “Giving up the 700 MHz banddoes not mean that channels haveto be shut down.

“By switching to DVB-T2 withan HEVC coding scheme there willbe a dividend that enablesbroadcasters to transmit morechannels in less spectrum. But thechannels have to be moved tolower parts of the UHF-band,” headded.

Laudan is the VP for SpectrumPolicy with Deutsche Telekom,which he first joined in 1987.Subsequently he joined theFederal Ministry for Post andTelecommunications. He then

joined T-Mobile International tohandle spectrum policy. With theexpiry of that company hisresponsibilities were transferred toDeutsche Telekom.

Does mobile broadbanddeserve a bad press for what it hasachieved with 800 MHz thus far?

“Look at Germany: It took oneyear to fulfill the coverageobligations and to build up acountrywide network withLTE800,” said Laudan. “Only withmobile technology can you havesuch a quick rollout. People havemobile broadband connectivity,but only with the bandwidth andspeed that 10 MHz channels (peroperator) can provide,” he added.

“With the 700 MHz band, theperformance of the 800 MHznetwork can be doubled, sofulfilling the demand for morespeed and bandwidth. Theproblem is that a lot of countrieshave not yet allocated the 800MHz band of spectrum to themarket. A harmonised approach inEurope would have been muchmore efficient.”

The broadcaster communitymakes the point that mobilelobbyists never mention theconsumer use of Wi-Fi. Is this abig deal?

“Wi-Fi is not a mobiletechnology: it is only portable. Youmust distinguish between the usecases. At home, where theconsumer already has abroadband connection, Wi-Fi isthe first choice for mobile devices,but could also substitute terrestrialTV,” said Laudan. “But for mobilereception only the mobile networkis viable. My question is whetherthere is a mobile use case for DTTdistribution. If not, there is nosubstitution between mobile andterrestrial TV.”

Research done for the EUsuggests that consumers will notuse mobile services for thereception of linear broadcast, andthat there is little evident

convergence.“If that is the case, then there is

no need to discuss if mobilenetworks can substitute terrestrialTV distribution. There are differentuse cases. Linear signals forstationary reception will betransmitted terrestrially bybroadcasters, even though thatcould be done much more cost-efficiently via satellite or IP.Nonlinear content will bedistributed via IP networks,including mobile networks,” hedeclared.

Was the IBC spectrum debatejust another chapter of a politicalgame that cannot fully resolve fortwo decades as broadcasters fightto keep 500 and 600 MHz, andtake time to vacate 700 MHZ?

“Due to global harmonisationarguments, the 700 MHz band willbe used for mobile broadband.Terrestrial TV will not disappear ina foreseeable timeframe, but thefuture of DTT will be decided bythe consumer and possibly thebroadcast operators, if they haveto cover the distribution costs.”

“If countries have targets forbroadband, and if they earn money

from spectrum allocationprocedures, the usage of that moneyhas to be decided at a political level”


Untitled-5 1 18/09/2014 15:29

Taking the pulse


Simon FellDirector of Technology & Innovation, EBURegion: Europe


Simon Fell became Director ofTechnology & Innovation at theEBU in September 2013. After atough baptism, three thingsstuck in his mind.

“One is the time it takes to getthings done at the ITU,” he says.“Then there is the importance ofspectrum to terrestrialbroadcasters: that’s beenuppermost on the agenda bothbefore and after the Lamyreport. Third is the sheerwillingness of broadcastersacross the EBU membership towork together.”

Prior to joining the EBU, Fell was chairman of thetechnical council at the DigitalTelevision Group, and across his35-year career he has held keytechnical roles at C4, ITV,Carlton TV, and in postproduction. Add his three yearson the EBU technicalcommittee, and he was theperfect campaigner to representbroadcasters (along withJonathan Thompson and Lars

Bucklund) in IBC’s SpectrumDebate.

Have they been fighting alosing battle against the mobilebroadband gang? “We put up avery strong defence and won theday in an audience vote,” saysFell.

The decision on 700 MHz wastaken out of broadcast hands atthe last World RadioConference, but the LamyReport gave temporary hope fora stay to 2022 at 700 MHz andhold over the lower spectrumlevels until 2030.

“Looks like we start again, butthe RSPG and CEBT will soonpublish reports on the long termuse of the UHF band. As of theend of 2015 countries willchoose whether they want togive their entire spectrum in 700to mobile, to broadcast, or findsome way they can co-operate,”says Fell.

“But the nature of the game isthat once you get spectrum forboth uses (co-primary) then the

mobile spectrum plan tends tobe the one that gets deployed,as with 800 MHz.”

Will no room be left for PMSEand broadcasting?

“If that is going to beinevitable, the right time has tobe given for it to happenbecause changing over isdifficult. Compensation needs tobe considered for those costsbroadcasters will incur by havingto re-engineer networks,” headds.

“What’s in 500 MHz and 600MHz should remain forbroadcast for the foreseeablefuture. Broadcasters won’tconsider any major changes towhat they have in 500/600 MHzuntil 2030,” says Fell. “In terms of700 MHZ we need to find datesthat suit individual countries.These dates can be as early as2017 in places like Finland,where they have decided, all theway out to 2025 and beyond forsome countries where heavy useis made of 700 MHz.

“The mobile industry talksabout more mobile broadband and rural areas beingcovered – well, there is noevidence of that so far in whatthey’ve done on 800 MHz. Thenthere is the famous convergenceargument – talk of using mobileservices from low power/lowtower and then broadcastingfrom high power/ high tower,and changing the use by time ofday. That is just impractical,” headds.

“They have got about 3000MHz of spectrum, but whatextra could they do inbroadcaster spectrum that is sooutstanding that they could notdo in their own spectrumalready?

Safeguarding everythingbelow 700MHz would enablepublic service broadcasters andthe European AV industry tocontinue reaching all sectors ofthe population and sustainbroader content choice,” heconcludes.

platform

The right

vibrantto a

“Broadcastershave got every

right to exist andhave a vibrant

platform, just asmuch as mobilebroadband does”


Jette Nygaard Andersen hasworked for MTG since 2003 andEVP & CEO of Nordic and Balticpay tv since 2013. Before joiningMTG, she was a strategymanagement consultant atAccenture, and also heldpositions at the Maersk Group.

What has been your onlineand on demand strategy,and how does this fit with your linear TV propositions? We have a broad offer across alarge spectrum of platforms,both the subscription as well asthe free-TV business. This gives us ability to negotiatedeals across all platforms, which we believe is one of the steps of winning in thefuture. We were early inlaunching our first subscription

VOD service in the Scandinavianmarket in 2007 (Viasat On-Demand – now Viaplay) which isoffered as a complimentary TVEverywhere service to our ownDTH satellite subscribers, butcan also be offered as astandalone SVOD service. Thishas given us access to newcustomers and has helped buildour subscriber base.

Has the value chain for pay TV operators beendisrupted by IP players? Obviously there is more eyeballcompetition. The key to success is differentiating andproduct development. We dothis in several ways: byproducing and showing localcontent, being the very best atsports (F1, NHL and SuperligaenDenmark to name a few); by our

premium movie deals across allplatforms (SPT, Walt Disney and NBCU), as well ascontinuing to launch newproducts – the latest being avery popular download-to-goservice. We can also show ourcontent across all platforms.

What’s more popular withyour subscribers – bingeviewing or weeklytransmissions? There’s room for both. To markMTG’s premiere of the series 24:Live Another Day, we held abinge-viewing world recordattempt setting out to beat theprevious record. It succeeded –we are now in the Guinness Books of Records following 90 hours of binge viewing (set at MTG HQ in Stockholm,with actor Kiefer Sutherland

cheering on Twitter). Personally, Ilove binge-viewing series withmy husband for a relaxingevening. But absolutely not for90 hours straight!

Is broadcasting in dangeror in bad health? We used to be bound by ourdistribution platforms. Now weare limited only by our ability toseize and package great contentand engage our consumers. Themassive expansion of consumertime being spent on media islargely additive with TV, so wemaintain a strong position. Forexample, during the WinterOlympics 2014 we achievedrecord free-TV audience sharesof 60 percent in Sweden.

How does the Scandinavianmarket differ from, say,

Germany, when it comes to linear versus onlineviewing? There are two things driving thepremium and pay OTT market:broadband penetration and ahigh pay-TV penetration. Inboth areas the Nordics holds the upper hand. Almost 90percent of all Nordic households have a great internet connection. In Sweden,every third household has a 100Mbps connection, and fibre rollout is extensive. Our customers are used to paying for TV. As an example,almost two out of threehouseholds have pay TV inSweden. Tablet growth inSweden is up 45 per centcompared to last year. And everythird Swede watches OTT everysingle day.

Taking the pulse


Jette Nygaard AndersenEVP & CEO, MTG Nordic & Baltic Pay TV BroadcastOperations, Modern Times GroupRegion: Scandinavia


Cross platform

“The key tosuccess is

differentiation”

master


The vast majority of TV adscontinues to be sold using prettystraight-forward demographicinformation, like men, 16 to 34years of age, etc. But thefragmentation of TV audiencesover the past two decades andthe development of moresophisticated audience trackingtechnologies coupled with newcomputational power hasspawned a gaggle of new kidson the audience tracking and adsales block.

Among these is five-year-oldstart-up Simulmedia. Accordingto Pravin Chandiramani it takesthe demographicmeasurement toolsthat dominate themajority of the$70bn a year in USTV advertising tothe next level: “Weattach a lot ofpurchase datawhich gives us an idea of thebusiness outcome of theadvertisements,” he explains.

Using data collected from19m set top boxes in the US(representing about 50mviewers – bigger than audiencemeasurement companyNielsen’s 24,000-person panel)and combining that withprogramming data from TVchannels as well as purchasingdata, Simulmedia creates whatChandiramani calls a “closedloop type of metric” where thead spots people view can becorrelated against theirpurchasing decisions.

“In the big data worldeverything can be correlated,” heexplains. “But at Simulmedia welook not at correlation so muchas causation. We are able toconnect viewing to actualpurchasing.”

The company, which hasraised $60mn in venture capital,has had good success with retailand restaurants clients butChandiramani who in addition toa business degree spent nearlytwo years studying the socialinteractions of baboons for amasters in biological science,

cautions that changing how thevast majority of TV advertisinginventory is sold will take timebecause it requires a seachangein thinking.

By 2016 an estimated 10% –or some $16bn – of all TVadvertising (estimated to be$75bn market in 2016 in the US)will be sold using data with“more colour and more definitionthan just demographics”.

And this portion of the marketis set to accelerate substantiallyover the next few years. Basedon research by MyersBizNetMedia and Marketing, by 2020

the amount ofaudience basedand alsoprogrammatic/automated TVspot buying (thelatter is notsomething thatSimulmedia does)

will double to $33bn out ofan estimated total TV adspend in the US of $83bn.

“The whole notion ofmeasuring and re-aggregating audiences willgather momentum,” saysChandiramani. “It’s takentime to get where we arenow and some in thead and agency worldstill view what we aredoing with suspicionbecause it is achange from thepast. Beyond thetechnicalengineering aspect,there is also thesocial engineeringaspect andthere’s amarketplaceconsensusthat this stillneeds to bebuilt.”

Taking the pulse


Pravin ChandiramaniSVP Business Development, SimulmediaRegion: United States


The social science of

“In the bigdata worldeverything

can becorrelated”

TV ads


Untitled-1 1 17/09/2014 15:39

Untitled-1 1 17/09/2014 15:44

IBC2014 Executive Summary

Documents

Transcript of IBC2014 Executive Summary