Join RTS Fellow and Chairman of the DTG, Simon Fell, in this joint RTS London and Digital Television Group event.  

Simon and his panel of industry experts will discuss the home entertainment technology that’s available to audiences today to make their viewing experience the best it can be under lockdown, and also look at what’s coming next.

They will discuss lockdown TV tech such as Next Gen Audio, voice recognition, 4K, 8K, and much more.

The audience will be able to suggest questions for the panel to address in this live online event.

Chair
Simon Fell, Chairman of the DTG (Digital Television Group)

Panel
Simon Gauntlett, Director of Imaging Standards and Technology, Dolby
Yvonne Thomas, Strategic Technologist, DTG​
Chris Johns, Chief Engineer, Broadcast Strategy, Sky

Simon Fell
Simon was appointed independent Chairman of the DTG in February 2019. His career across IT, online and broadcast media, telecoms and airport technology spans five decades. Mr Fell was most recently Director of Technology & Innovation at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Based in Geneva, he led the team driving the industry’s digital transformation and introduced several new initiatives bringing focus to areas such as cybersecurity and OTT and establishing the EBU Innovation Awards. Simon also chaired numerous international working groups and standards bodies, as well as represented broadcasters in their negotiations with the EU on spectrum. Before joining the EBU in 2013 he was CTO at Heathrow Airport where he managed the technical architecture department and introduced an innovation team. He has held several executive positions at UK broadcasters including ITV where he was Director of Future Technologies. Simon is a fellow of SMPTE, the RTS and the RSA.

Simon Gaunlett
Simon Gauntlett is Director, Imaging Standards and Technology, at Dolby Laboratories. He leads a team that works with international standards bodies, broadcasters, and consumer electronics manufacturers toward the development and adoption of advanced imaging standards. He has been involved in the development and adoption of High Dynamic Range and an active enthusiast in Immersive Experiences including AR and VR. Prior to joining Dolby in 2016, Simon was the CTO of the Digital TV Group, where he helped set up the UK UHD Forum, and was editor in chief for the D-Book for 10 years, the UK specification of the DTT (Freeview) and Connected TV platforms. Simon has a master's degree in electronics and communications engineering from Exeter University and BBC graduate training while working at BBC Research and Development. Simon is the current Chair of the SMPTE UK Section, a Fellow of the IET and an Honorary Fellow of the BKSTS. 

Yvonne Thomas
Yvonne Thomas joined the DTG as its Strategic Technologist in 2019.  Yvonne graduated in Television Technologies and Electronic Media Engineering from University of applied Science Wiesbaden (HSRM), Germany, in 2010. She received a prominent award of the ARD/ZDF Academy for her thesis in September 2011 at the IFA in Berlin. Following these studies she started beginning of 2011 to work at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in the Technology & Innovation Department as Project Manager. She was responsible for projects and strategic programs on 3D and Future Television technologies, such as UHDTV or LED studio lighting and highly involved in its standardisation. In 2015 Yvonne joined Arvato Systems´ Broadcast Solution division as a Product Manager was responsible for the journalistic frontend ‘MediaPortal’ of the Video Production Management Suite. In 2017, Yvonne was honoured at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2017 with a Technology Women to Watch award from TVNews Check.

Chris Johns
Chris has been with Sky since its inception in 1989 having started his career in broadcast with the BBC. Chris formed part of the initial technical team tasked with launching Sky’s multi-channel analogue satellite offering. As Chief Engineer, Chris has been at the forefront of delivering broadcast functionality to the platform such as the multichannel digital playout facilities, Dolby Digital audio, server-based solutions and compression systems. Having played a key role in Sky’s HD launch and design of its HD infrastructure, he continues to oversee the product quality. As part of Sky Technology, Chris is now helping the company enhance entertainment delivered across multiple platforms from a common core. As part of this remit he continues to evolve many new experiences such as UHD, Virtual Reality and enhanced audio as well as the associated technologies to deliver better images and sound to numerous consumer devices. Chris is a SMPTE Fellow and Honorary Fellow of the BKSTS.