technology

There has long been a technology skills gap in TV due to the competitive recruitment of graduates in related fields, and despite the best efforts of employers, that gap remains.

As Freeview’s Head of Technology Partnerships, Alex Russell, acknowledged, “It’s certainly true that companies like Google and other tech giants can pay higher graduate salaries. As a smaller company though we offer a different sort of environment with the same benefits around flexible working, an exciting range of projects, a great pension. It’s just about getting ourselves noticed.”

Will Pitt, head of sport​ at video management specialists Imagen, was talking at an upbeat joint RTS Archive Group/RTS London event, “Protecting our TV heritage”, in early March.

He was backed by BFI head of conservation Charles Fairall, who noted that the digitisation of TV archive material has made it “instantly accessible”.

IBC technology advisor Mark Smith predicted that 5G would boost the power of mobile networks to distribute media and entertainment content.

Deloitte media consultant Khalid Hayat forecast a future of cloud-based multi-platform, high-speed networks, feeding a wide range of platforms and devices, with not just subscription video on demand (SVoD) but cheaper, ad-sup- ported VoD at perhaps half the subscription rates.

The RTS launched its Technology Bursary Scheme in 2015. The initiative supports students from lower-­income households studying science, technology, engineering or maths (Stem) subjects, with the aim of tempting them into a career in the media industry when they graduate.

Our first group of five students comprised four men and one woman. This year, we awarded eight bursaries. For the first time, we have equal numbers of male and female students. Is this a blip, or are we moving towards a more equal gender balance?

Television is experiencing a technical revolution in broadcast facilities. This new technology – video and audio over IP – uses computer networks to replace traditional broadcast infrastructures to deliver more flexibility and scalability for programme-makers.

Sports producers have already started to benefit from IP. Multiple cameras and microphones at events can be directly streamed into a centralised broadcast facility to increase the number of events covered. Scalable IP studios provide pay-as-you-go resources to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Ask attendees of this year’s IBC about what caught their eye at the giant Amsterdam tech fest, and only a few will cite new product launches.

Instead, they’ll talk about the technology trends that were evident at the trade show, and about how they left the event with a far better understanding of the future direction of travel in the complex and ever-evolving world of broadcast technology.

Call it a tale of two industries. For the vast global television sector, this is the best of times and the worst of times. This is a golden age of television.

Cinema-quality programmes such as Game of Thrones draw massive audiences. Events such as the 2018 FIFA World Cup, broadcast in real time to a global viewership of 1.1 billion, prove the medium’s unique power to bring together truly massive live audiences.

The prestigious award, now open to entries, celebrates an outstanding technologist or engineer of the future and accepts submissions from individuals in the early stages of their career across broadcast or its related industries.