Distribution
The first day offered a review of the activities of the Project Groups of the BMC during the last year, followed by presentations on the rollout of digital radio (DAB and DRM) and TV (DVB-T) in Europe, and some system issues of digital cable, multichannel audio distribution and HDTV distribution. The afternoon papers offered a thorough survey of broadcasting to handheld receivers, from the technical aspects and comparison of systems, to the practical trials of DVB-H and DAB-based services.
Frequency management
On the second day, the focus shifted to frequency management issues. Beginning with general questions on the future of broadcasting spectrum and the ever increasing competition from non-broadcast systems which may be sources of potential interference, the day then looked at the ongoing issues of the ITU RRC-06. The three sessions concentrated on the planning tools and first results, the interim period and pre-coordination, and finally the living agreement and plan.
| Enough time to discuss the future of broadcasting to handhelds ► |  | Concentrated faces while looking at HD and listening to 5.1 ► |  |
Formal and fun
The formal presentation programme was supplemented as usual with plenty of opportunities for active discussion in question and answer periods and in the less formal networking outside of the meeting room in the breaks and at the evening receptions. The inimitable Gerhard Stoll (IRT) also kindly offered delegates excellent demonstrations of the superb pictures and sound offered by HDTV with multichannel audio, and the improvement a few kilobit/s of extra spatial sound information could offer viewers in capacity-limited Digital Terrestrial TV.