Rapid Convergence Of Broadcast And Telecoms Drives Growth Of Mobile, IPTV And Digital Signage At IBC2008

The rapid growth in the consumption of broadcast content on devices other than the traditional TV screens is reflected across the exhibition, conference and business briefing programmes at IBC2008 in Amsterdam, between September 11 - 16.
As the leading international broadcast technology exhibition, IBC covers all aspects of the creation, management and delivery of content.
Recent years have seen a steady rise in attendance from the telecoms sector as carriers and mobile operators seek a better understanding of the broadcast sector and evaluate IPTV and mobile multimedia revenues as a supplement to stagnant or declining voice ARPU.
This year, the opening theme day of the IBC Conference on September 11 is dedicated to "Content Access via the Web" and will explore how consuming content across devices as diverse as mobile phones, PCs, multimedia players and games consoles is impacting the traditional broadcast value chain.
"The Digital Dividend: HD, mobile, broadband or new media?", the theme on September 13, will examine the options, opportunities and issues that may arise when telecoms operators compete for spectrum released by the transition from analogue to digital terrestrial TV transmission.
Sunday's theme day "Content production: technology, creativity and business in an era of headlong change" will provide invaluable insight into the broadcast sector's perspective of the creative and commercial implications of the rapidly changing media landscape.
Elsewhere in the Conference Programme, Thursday's Technical paper sessions will include an in-depth look at technical innovations in the area of "IPTV and the networked home".
Ken Blakeslee, Chairman of WebMobility Ventures and veteran of the mobile industry leads a free session in Friday's Content Production stream entitled "Entertaining the Mobile Audience - Games and Rich Content Production and Distribution to an Interactive Audience of One", which will look at the dynamics of conceiving, designing, monetising and delivering entertaining content to the fourth screen This will be followed by another free session: "User generated content - social networking and the democratisation of broadcasting". Mobile will also be the focus of "What Caught My Eye" in which an expert reports on the notable innovations to be found on the exhibition floor.
For Sunday's "What Caught My Eye" session at 11am, Mike Short, VP R&D at Telefonica O2 and President of the Mobile Data Association will unveil the most exciting mobile-specific innovations to be found at IBC2008.
Monday's programme includes tutorials from DVB & ETSI on "Open Standards, Technology & Implementation" outlining the evolution of the Digital Video Broadcast standard to accommodate a number of distribution scenarios including DVB-H for handhelds. IET hosts another tutorial on "Digital delivery & getting content to the consumer".
Mobile, IPTV and web TV products, services and applications can be found across the IBC exhibition. In addition, dedicated Mobile and IPTV Zones bring together innovative application developers, content providers and technology companies pioneering in these important new fields.
More than 30 companies are exhibiting in the Mobile Zone, including industry leaders such as Qualcomm MediaFLO, MobiTV and Nagravision while nearly 50 organisations from Aceedo Broadband to ZyXEL Communications Corp feature in the expanded IPTV Zone.
Digital Signage - the use of IP-networked flat screens to distribute information, advertising, multimedia and TV content in retail environments, transport hubs and stadia - will have its own Zone in response to the interest generated by an overflowing seminar on the subject at IBC2007.
Mobile, IPTV and Digital Signage will also feature in the 2008 IBC Business Briefing Programme. Conceived to complement the peer-reviewed IBC Conference, the free-admission Business Briefings provide a platform for content providers, application developers and technology companies to share their experiences of the impact that mobile, broadband and IP worlds are having on the creation, management and delivery of content.
Early confirmed speakers include Qualcomm MediaFLO and Nagravision on Mobile, Dolby, Edgeware, Miniweb Interactive, the Open IPTV Forum and Tandberg on IPTV and Sony on Digital Signage.
Further information is available at: www.ibc.org.
(KMcA/JM)