If the advance press statements are anything to go by, this year’s IBC will focus on multiscreen television delivery in all of its guises, with the process of getting it to the consumer becoming just as important as the device on which the technology will be viewed.
The objective will be to find the true technology leaders and those that are just along for the ride.
An early highlight of the conference sessions is Cable and Satellite: Future Directions in a Hybrid World (September 8; 15.30) in which the veteran journalist Chris Forrester presides over a panel including Mike Fries, CEO, Liberty Global, Andrew Barron, COO, Virgin Media and Thomas Wrede, vice president, reception systems, SES Astra.
Fries comments will be particularly interesting, given that they will come but a few weeks before the anticipated launch of UPC’s Horizon product. UPC has chosen to create its own system, with help from Intel, Samsung and NDS. In contrast Virgin has taken TiVo out of the box, but has contributed much to the cable version of the PVR technology.
Earlier, a panel comprising John Smith, CEO, BBC Worldwide, Bill Roedy, late of MTV, and former Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson come the closest IBC has been to a line-up of true broadcasters.
Saturday morning’s connected TV panel, with speakers from Sony, Pace, Blinkbox and DirecTV also offers a perspective worth hearing.
3D has not entirely been consigned to the past; there is still work to be done and Sunday afternoon’s 3DTV Broadcast Standards ¬– The Complete Picture, led by the excellent David Wood of the EBU, will show what’s needed.
IBC is continuing its support of 3D, its emphasis on cinema always feeling slightly at odds with the TV technologies, but on a par with the craft found elsewhere within the show.
There is of course the Saturday night movie screening of Transformers 3:Dark of Moon – in stereoscopic Dolby 3D and Dolby 7.1 and a Monday Night Showcase this year will include an amazing extended trailer of James Cameron’s Titanic 3D, Flying Monsters in 3D.