The 'Prix Italia' has been awarding prizes for excellence in the world's television for 62 years, and was held in Turin in September 2010. Among its elements this year was a workshop on the Frontiers of Television. The Workshop was opened by Eva Hamilton, Prix Italia President and CEO of Swedish Television. She explained that STV was anxious to start new services in 'hybrid broadcasting' - the combination of television broadcasting and broadband Internet. But, she continued, STV would only start when there was a common European standard. From the presentations and discussions, it is going to be a very long wait, as new and different systems emerge every few months. How will fragmentation hold back the huge potential of hybrid broadcasting?
The workshop also considered how broadband Internet distribution can be improved to allow high quality media to be delivered into the home without problems of congestion. It seems to call for a concerted national programme of capacity building of servers across the nation. Expensive yes, but for Italy at least, it seems no more expensive than building a national television transmitter network. Is this to be the future of broadcasting?
The workshop looked, as it must, at the prospects for 3DTV, Ultra High Definition Television, and the relative roles of IPTV and Internet. At the end it was clear that the public wants a high 'quality of service'. It was less clear if they are willing to pay for it.