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casting", "Multimedia Delivery, Anytime,Anywhere", and in associationwith the IEEE BTS, IPTV Tutorial: thetechnology behind broadband broadcasting.Under "Digital Lifestyles"theme day, the participants examined"Implications of IPTV and InternetVideo for Marketing-Led Businesses"and "Connecting Content with Consumers:What to Deliver". A full-daytutorial in association with IET andWorld DMB "Digital Delivery: the Essentials"covered IPTV and Mobile TV.During Mobile and IPTV businessbriefings participants observed "Fixed-Mobile Convergent TV Services:Unleash the Revenue Potential", "PayTV vs. Free-to-Air Mobile TV BusinessModels" and "Fully Automated Reframingof Video for Mobile Viewing - aMarketing Myth or a Product Reality?"Recordings of all business briefingsessions can be downloaded as mp3files at www.ibcsessions.com.The following topics drew greatattention: "Are you being YouTubed?","The rise of user-generated contentand its impact on TV professionals"and "Copyright or right to copy? Arepresent regulations dysfunctional?"AWARDSThe IBC 2007 InternationalHonour for Excellence went to SteveWozniak, founder of Apple. A gurubehind hardware in the past and agreat evangelist for technology today,he is also deeply involved in educatingthe next generation of scientists andengineers.IBC also presented a unique anniversaryaward, marking its own 40 thbirthday and the 50 th year of the recipient:the BBC Natural History Unit.The world's leading wildlife documentarymaker, it has pushed manufacturersand their products to the limit andbeyond in order to be able to bringremarkable scenes to our livingrooms."Throughout our 50 years of programmemaking, innovation in technologyhas been absolutely critical toour success in bringing new perspectivesand fresh insights to our audiences,"said Neil Nightingale, head ofthe Natural History Unit. "I am absolutelydelighted that, with thisaward, IBC has recognised our contributionto broadcasting the wonders ofnature."The IBC Innovation Awards celebrateboth technology and its application.The winner in the content creationcategory and the recipient of theJudge's Award, was CNN for its remarkabledigital newsgathering project,first rolled out in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict in July 2006. CNNreporters filed hundreds of livereports, using portable IP transmissiongear, from remote locations closeto the action, bringing viewers close tothe story as it unfolded."This is exactly the sort of projectthat deserves recognition," saidMichael Lumley, chair of the judgingpanel. "A major broadcaster had aclear idea of what it wanted to achieveNeil NIGHTINGALE, Head of the BBCNatural History Unitand brought together a team of technicalpartners to make it happen."Winner of the IBC InnovationAward for content management wasRTL-TVi for its instant tapeless project,on which it worked with serverspecialist EVS. The content deliveryprize went to UK news provider ITN forNeMeSys, an application designed toremove the chore of formatting storiesfor multiple delivery platforms byautomating the whole thing usingTelestream Flip Factory.In addition to IBC InnovationAward for Content Creation, CNN wasalso highly commended by the judgesfor a project that could not have beenmore different: basketball in high definition3D.With the help of its main technicalpartner Pace HD, the NBA producedits All-Star Saturday night game inFebruary 2007 in 3D HD, relaying itfrom the Thomas & Mack Centreevent dossierArena, Las Vegas, to an invited audienceacross town in the Mandalay BayHotel.The experiment was so successfulthat it was repeated in June with agame from the season's finals betweenthe San Antonio Spurs and theCleveland Cavaliers, and beamed fromTexas to 14,000 fans in the QuickenLoans Arena, Cleveland, watching onfour special screens.This was the first time a live gamein professional sports was shown tothe public in 3D HD, and according toJosh Linkner from the Cleveland PlainDealer it was, "Unbelievable - you feellike you're there. It wasn't television,and it certainly wasn't movie-like. Itreally felt like we were sitting about 20rows up from the corner of the court.People around us were joking aboutasking folks to sit "down in front" whenthe actual arena fans stood up."HDTVFor HDTV production users haveavailable all required equipment, wirelessslow-motion HD cameras included.HDTV distribution via satellite waslaunched in Europe only a couple ofyears ago, which was late when comparedwith other parts of the world,but just in time to utilise the benefits ofthe freshly developed production technology.Each equipment purchase,just like each content production oracquisition should already anticipateHDTV as the eventual replacement forSDTV. Also, broadcasters should alreadyconsider how to broadcast contentcreated or purchased today asHDTV content via IPTV or Mobile TV,even in the countries where currentlyonly analogue SDTV is used. Rapidchanges in, and implementation of,digital, IT, broadband (IPTV) andmobile technology continue to surpriseeven those in the industry.Exactly as in the old saying, things are'going from strength to strength'. Thegreat success of the Internet andmobile telephony in the nineties literallypushes telco operators and InternetService Providers to plunge into a newadventure, this time with television.Today, broadcasters and content creatorshave an historic opportunity tocombine their knowledge and professionalskills, and of course theirarchives, with the emerging multimedia,multi-platform business. }58 DISCOP LINK • #11 • NOVEMBER 07