Initiated by the EBU Technical Committee, EBU technical leaders embarked on a fact finding mission to visit leading technology companies on the West Coast of the United States. Delegates had the unique opportunity to spend a week networking and learning from key players in media from 01 – 05 February. In total, 13 technical leaders from the EBU Members (BBC, ORF, IRT, SWR, RTE, VRT, TVP, CYBC, SRG SSR, TRT) and representatives from the EBU Technology and Innovation department met executives and experts at the headquarters of Microsoft, Dolby, Google/YouTube, Netflix, Fox Broadcasting, 20th Century Fox, Disney and Warner Brothers.
The objective of the mission was to communicate EBU technology strategies and requirements to key industry partners, and to better understand the state of the art in media technology in the United States. The EBU delegation was left in awe by the technology demonstrations provided and interactive strategic discussions on the trends and impact of emerging technology innovations. Several areas of common understanding and mutual interest for future media technologies were identified.
The EBU Technical Committee will discuss actions and ways to continue this positive dialogue at their upcoming meeting at the end of February.