Once a year, senior staff from the EBU Technical Committee and Technical Department meet their counterparts from the association of consumer electronics and computers - 'DigitalEurope' - to share perspectives.
DigitalEurope welcomed a new Directory General last year, Bridget Cosgrave, and the meeting allowed her a first face-off with Europe's media content industry.
| On the agenda was the sensitive subject of digital HDTV broadcasting and multiple copying of broadcasts by consumers. In some countries, broadcasters are being asked by programme makers to limit copying by consumers. In other countries, the freedom to do as he/she pleases with a received programme is seen as fundamental to broadcasting. There are also different views about whether, once any technical measures are in place, they should be back up by legislation, or left as 'self regulation'. The discussions will continue in the months ahead. The agenda also took in the hottest topic on the broadcasting block today - 'hybrid broadcast broadband' systems. Here, the viewer is able to make use of both broadcasting and broadcasting on the same display. Many see this as the shape of media delivery to come. But in Europe, as in the world, there are alternative routes to take with technology, and if the poor viewer is not to need several different receivers, work has to be done to reconcile them. Both broadcasters and industry agreed at the meeting that what Europe needs is a common system or at least common elements, able to work with a range of different 'business models', and discussions will continue to help make this a reality. | Bridget P.Cosgrave, |
The meeting also discussed the hot topic of 3D-TV, where generally broadcasters and manufacturers have a similar understanding of the situation, though we are far from common standards today.
The consumer electronics manufacturers also made a strong plea for broadcasters to broadcast test signals for a service for the visually impaired, ' Audio Descriptions', and this will be considered by the EBU.
Finally the discussion turned to Digital Radio, where the hoped-for introduction of a new family of digital radio sets for Europe did not materialize in 2009. The manufacturers blame uncertainties of national plans for services in France and Germany for this. Everyone keeps their fingers crossed that 2010 may be a better year for digital radio.