Technology & Innovation Magazine

MEDIA TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION -iISSUE 47 • MARCH 2021 Targeting cloud-based and remote production Plus Multiplying the value of Europe’s newsrooms Frédéric Brochard (France Télévisions) on technology priorities Why broadcasters still need the DVB Project, and vice-versa and more... tech-i | tecthe.ecbhu..echb|uM.carhch/s2u02b1scr1 ibe

-i 4 14 Issue 47 • March 2021 Contents 7 16 Cover story: The COVID-19 pandemic 3 Spearheading the renaissance of media innovation in Europe has accelerated the development of Antonio Arcidiacono on the need for Europe-wide collaboration remote production solutions that take on innovation advantage of the cloud. This issue of tech-i includes an update on the 4 Emmy Awards; SMPTE presidency activities of the new EBU Hybrid & 5 Discussing the future of European media R&D Cloud Production Group (pages 8-9), including a recent technology test at Report on a panel discussion at PTS 2021 the World Biathlon Championships 6 Yle works towards cloud-based radio production in Antholz, Italy (pictured on the cover). You can also read about How Yle is creating a fully featured radio studio in the cloud Yle’s development of a cloud-based 7 A 5G journey through the cloud radio studio and RTVE’s use of 5G technology with cloud-based Pushing the boundaries of new production and distribution production and distribution. technologies at RTVE Cover photo © Biathlon Antholz / 8 Live production in the cloud – learning through collaboration Manzoni / NordicFocus The new EBU group on Hybrid & Cloud Production mounted a pilot production at the Biathlon World Championships Editor-in-Chief: Antonio Arcidiacono 10 Strength in diversity: multiplying the value of Europe’s Managing Editor: Patrick Wauthier newsrooms Editor: Eoghan O’Sullivan Introducing the News Monitoring tool and the Recommendation tech@ebu.ch Box Design: Louise Tait 11 Eurovision News Monitoring: what’s under the hood Printed on FSC certified paper by How EuroVOX and PEACH provide the core functions Graphius (FSC CO14767) 12 Looking beyond the media technology horizon A new report on how PSM R&D labs see the future media © European Broadcasting Union landscape All rights reserved. The reproduction 14 Who needs conventional broadcast networks when you’ve got of articles in tech-i is authorized only the internet! Right? with the written permission of the Roland Beutler recommends caution when relying on Big Tech publishers. The responsibility for views 15 Sustainability Matters: Tackling climate change one expressed in tech-i rests solely with conversation at a time the authors. A mobile app aims to make sustainability part of the day-to-day technology conversation at ITV TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION 16 In my opinion: Finding new levers to meet the challenges of Get an edge tomorrow France Télévisions CTO/CIO Frédéric Brochard • Our goal is to be an incubator to 17 Partner Profiles: DVB Project advance media technology. Still serving broadcasters, with more urgency than ever 18 No single approach to sign-in dominates • We catalyse innovations so they The latest research from the EBU Media Intelligence Service deliver for all players 19 In the spotlight: Karl Petermichl Strategy and Governance Officer to the CTO, ORF • We stimulate active collaboration so that you get more than innovative technology – you get a real competitive advantage. Sign up to receive tech-i magazine, EBU Technology & Innovation newsletters or event alerts: tech.ebu. ch/subscribe EBU Members are encouraged to follow and contribute to the work of our Strategic Programmes and Communities of Practice. Visit: tech.ebu.ch/ourwork 2 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

EDITORIAL Spearheading the renaissance of media innovation in Europe Antonio Arcidiacono, Director of Technology & Innovation, EBU Consider, for a moment, the the most obvious ones. These the first materialization of this differences between the US technologies can be applied to vision with the launch of the media landscape and our help create an offer that can be News Monitoring and the situation here in Europe. On the consumed in all markets at a Recommendation Box projects other side of the Atlantic, we sustainable production cost. (see pages 10-11). AI find large and uniform markets technologies are leveraged to where content and platforms I see the potential for an combine trusted news from can gain mass audiences and enlarged content offer multiple EBU Members, made take advantage of considerable combined with a common set of available to any journalist or economies of scale. products and distribution citizen in their own preferred services aimed at a mass language. This represents not Europe, in contrast, is a European market – more than only a wider choice but also a multicultural, multilingual 500 million people. With unique democratic weapon patchwork of medium and individual countries having enabling comparison of (mostly) small markets: we are increasingly diverse audiences, independent information more than capable of producing the smart application of AI and sources. interesting content and data technologies can help technology products but are identify the best opportunities OPEN TECHNOLOGY limited by the size of each for export. And the economies Part of our public service individual market. The potential of scale that arise will enable mandate is also that of setting return on investment constrains targeting of content and the reference for technology the amount of product distribution services in the other innovation. It is a role the EBU development that can happen, four continents. has been fulfilling for decades, whether in production or driving innovation in media distribution. So, the way to address this technology in collaboration with challenge of Europe’s non- international bodies such as These constraints were less of uniform markets is in combining DVB, SMPTE, ITU, HbbTV, a problem before the age of original, high quality content 5G-MAG, ETSI, WorldDAB and globalization. However, today with technological innovation to others. Our historical leadership we see that the inability to attract audiences, while role was recently acknowledged compete, not only on developing a sustainable set of with the receipt of three production but also on R&D and products in the long term. To Technology & Engineering innovation in general, leaves the develop and maintain innovative Emmy Awards (see page 4). door wide open for the large products we must join forces OTT operators – mostly based and produce the required tools The EBU remains today the in the US – that can continue to in both production and largest structure coordinating invest in product innovation. distribution technology. European media R&D&I With the exception of the activities. It is the natural anglophone native productions, We have recently announced candidate to lead the other European products often development of open find a natural resistance to technology solutions that export and consumption in benefit EBU Members along markets other than their own with the entire industry and national ones. society at large. I want to see LEVERAGING AI & DATA the EBU leading a European How can we address these hub of excellence in media constraints on investment? Can technology development, we avoid wasteful replication of driving innovation where efforts to develop distribution technology and media creation solutions that are deployed only come together. We must fight at a national level? The answers back to ensure we can leverage lie partly in new AI-based and our own tools of production data technologies, including and distribution, so that citizens language management and get the most out of Europe’s smart recommendation among rich cultural heritage. tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021 3

NEWS & EVENTS EBU receives three Technology SMPTE elects EBU & Engineering Emmy® Awards T&I’s Hans Hoffmann as President The European Broadcasting Union has been awarded three Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for The SMPTE standards organization has excellence in engineering creativity, recognizing three key elected Hans Hoffmann, Head of Media technologies that were collaboratively developed by the Fundamentals and Production at the EBU, EBU and that have shaped or underpin systems widely as its president for the 2021–22 term. On used by the broadcast industry today. 1 January, Hoffmann became the first European in the history of the organization “These three Emmy Awards confirm that collaboration to serve in that role. between organizations is key to successful innovation, and we will continue on this path”, says EBU Director The appointment further strengthens of Technology & Innovation Antonio Arcidiacono. “They the EBU’s ties and partnerships with the are proof of the power of collaborative, leading-edge wider entertainment industry. The Society innovation to shape the future of technology and make of Motion Picture and Television Engineers a lasting, practical impact. We’re very pleased to have is based in the US and operates as a global the work of the engineers and experts who drove those professional association of engineers, developments honoured in this way.” technologists and executives working in the media and entertainment industry. Its The first Emmy Award recognizes the EBU’s role in the work underpins many of the technologies creation of the Advanced Authoring Format (AAF), an used by media organizations around the interchange file format that paved the way for cross- world. platform post-production workflows, the benefits of which are still enjoyed by the industry today. “It’s an honour to be elected to this leadership position at SMPTE,” said The second Emmy Award honours the standardization Hoffmann. “I look forward to collaborating and commercialization of broadcast, hybrid electrical with the fantastic SMPTE team in White and fibre optic camera cable and connectors, a design Plains, the SMPTE Board, and the SMPTE for physical interconnect solutions that helped to membership to identify the Society’s accommodate the growing bandwidth requirements in gravity points — strengths and areas digital media production systems and has since come to we need to develop to grow now and be relied on by vendors, broadcasters and media creators in the near future. We have a world of around the world. opportunity ahead of us, and we need to be agile in positioning the Society to delve The final of the three Emmy Awards rewards the into the areas that address the rise of the EBU’s contribution to work on Common Encryption, cloud, IP, remote workflows and media a fundamental technology design that separates the creation, artificial intelligence and machine encryption function from the content contribution or learning, software in place of hardware, distribution system and can accommodate the presence and personalization and ‘immersiveness’ in of multiple encryption or conditional access systems in media consumption.” parallel. The technology allowed industry participants to deploy successive generations of increasingly Hans Hoffmann was also recently sophisticated conditional access systems as part of new awarded the FKTG’s Richard Theile Medal services on satellite and cable. 2020 for outstanding services in television technology. The award recognizes his services in the development of HDTV and UHDTV television systems and his significant contribution to international standardization committees. Hans Hoffmann, EBU Head of Media Fundamentals and Production Nominations are now being accepted for the EBU Technology & Innovation Award 2021 Visit: tech.ebu.ch/award 4 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR 2021 Discussing the future of European media R&D With the closure this year of one He pointed to the shorter the EBU has a role to bring of the world’s foremost R&D labs development cycles that have together the requirements and for broadcast technologies, the become the norm and noted that, views of the broadcasters. “We Munich-based Institut für while many Members were shouldn’t forget that it’s always Rundfunktechnik (IRT), it seemed working on similar projects, they important to be close to your own an apt moment for the EBU were usually at different points in audience and to have a look at Production Technology Seminar to the cycle. your local and regional needs and explore the state of media-related FUNDING GAP requirements and specifics. So, R&D. A discussion panel with a Two institutes in the German you cannot only rely on the big primarily European focus, but also Fraunhofer network were players from the West Coast, including NHK STRL (Japan), represented in the discussion: because they naturally have to brought the online conference to a Harald Fuchs heads the media have a global view.” close and pointed out several systems and applications paths to future success. department at Fraunhofer IIS, GAIA-X POTENTIAL while Ralf Schäfer is responsible Both of the German panellists Gino Alberico, who leads the for the video division at mentioned the cloud as an area research centre at Rai in Italy, said Fraunhofer HHI. Both stressed the ripe for development and a key question for broadcasters growing importance for the collaboration. Once again today was “make or buy?”, where broadcast industry of EU-funded highlighting the European angle, it is important to find the right projects. Ralf Schäfer saw the GAIA-X balance. PTS 2021 had shown initiative as an opportunity to several examples of broadcasters Ralf Schäfer pointed out that, as work on an open standardized experimenting with available a public research institute, HHI platform. It might, he said, open technologies – he highlighted has to work on topics where the path to additional European Yle’s first steps in synthetic media funding is available. “One problem Commission funding for using a web-based tool – but is that in Europe we lost the collaboration, given that over- broadcasters would still need to consumer electronics industry dependency on certain cloud develop tools and infrastructure and therefore it’s quite hard to providers could prove to be an to solve specific needs within get funding for consumer obstacle for collaboration. their own organization. Avoiding electronics or broadcasting vendor lock-in should be a topics.” HHI continues to do The director of NHK’s Science & priority, he said. relevant work, particularly on Technology Research video coding, but also as an Laboratories, Kohji Mitani, His counterpart at BBC R&D, offshoot of applications for fields brought a perspective from Andy Conroy, said that EBU like medicine or security. outside Europe to the discussion. Members can still play a vital role Picking up on the need for in R&D: “We can bring our values; Picking up on this point, Harald collaboration, which had also that’s what distinguishes us, public Fuchs said that European projects been identified by the other service media; we can bring our continue to be important and that panellists, he mentioned personal values to bear on the space.” data stores as an important topic for all countries and regions and Clockwise from top left: Andy Conroy (BBC R&D), Kohji Mitani (NHK STRL), Gino thus one that was ripe for Alberico (Rai CRITS), Ralf Schäfer (Fraunhofer HHI), Harald Fuchs (Fraunhofer IIS). collaboration. When it came to personalized media services, “transparent and highly accountable technologies are required to enable our viewers to enjoy user-centred broadcasting services with peace of mind.” Overall, the discussion re- emphasized the need for strong media-related R&D capacity in Europe and the importance of collaboration, both between institutes and across disciplines. The EBU is seen as a natural facilitator to coordinate such activities. tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021 5

CLOUD-BASED PRODUCTION Yle works towards cloud-based radio production Yle’s Mikko Nevalainen describes how the Finnish broadcaster has created a fully-featured radio studio that runs entirely in the cloud. Our vision for this project was “A node that is to be used for the remote that, equipped with nothing production of a full radio show might have more than a microphone, a laptop and a good internet connection, a Yle radio presenter several outside sources defined and set as could go on air with all of the inputs.” functionality and features they would have available in a typical radio studio. We delivered on this can be used stand-alone or in IP stream with the appropriate vision by putting everything in hybrid contexts. codec, bit rate and sample rate the cloud: the user can just Once everything has been for whatever service is targeted. browse to the appropriate URL, configured in the back end, the Once the user has logged in, login, and go live. software takes care of loaded the appropriate playlist The solution offers a simple connectivity, contribution and and configured their microphone, way to replace a studio delivery. When the user logs in, they can connect to the media environment remotely, a need the preconfigured settings are player. The connection uses that became all the more urgent loaded in the front end. They see WebRTC and the Opus audio during the past year. But it can all of the different sources that codec. also serve as a lightweight might be needed for a radio The output of the studio is back-up solution when you don’t show, such as regional news mixed and delivered as an IP have sufficient studio space studios, music libraries, stream that can easily feed available. programme jingles, etc. There is web-based players or audio-on- also the usual radio rundown and demand systems. FM delivery is audio monitors, while the also possible, simply requiring USER-FRIENDLY provision of a talkback function is the stream to be routed to the The main goals of this project were to prioritize ease of use in on the roadmap. correct place for playout. terms of the user interface and The system is based on a series the user experience. It should be of media nodes, each configured TOWARDS DEPLOYMENT accessible at any time from any according to what should be Having successfully delivered the location and should enable fast available. For example, a node proof-of-concept, we are now publishing to the web for audio- that is to be used for the remote exploring how to deploy this on-demand or podcasts. production of a full radio show service as easily as possible. The Importantly, it should be might have several outside aim is to use cloud-based platform-agnostic: available for sources defined and set as distribution with a repository deployment either on the public inputs. The node’s own output where we can set up docker or private cloud or on premise. It would in turn be configured as an images: you just spin up the machine and you have the studio environment up and running. Although the complete system is not yet used in production, the playout function is already being used daily on three national channels. A Lawo mixing desk is used to create the live feeds as AES67 streams to the media network and the media node player is controlled as a webpage inserted inside Lawo’s virtual UI known as VisTool. In this case the media node is running on a virtual machine with R3LAY Virtual Patch Bay as a soundcard interface, controlled with the Ember+ protocol. A screenshot of the interface with a live (test) show in progress 6 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

CLOUD-BASED PRODUCTION A 5G journey to the cloud and beyond RTVE has been pushing the boundaries of new production and distribution technologies on an innovation journey that will help define the future of broadcasting, writes David Corral. To say goodbye to 2020 we American artists on stage at Six different decided to, in a way, Madrid’s Casa América. Taking distribution technologically challenge the the FM radio broadcast as a pandemic by doing a special starting point, we used a multi- channels broadcast. We took the camera signal mixed in the cloud were fed opportunity of a concert to serve all of RTVE’s platforms, simultaneously produced by Radio3, our national both conventional broadcast and from the cloud station focused on music and digital, also providing vertical culture, to come full circle on an video where required. In what Below: innovation journey, both in terms was another first for Spain, we Shooting at of the production techniques and used a 5G backpack to achieve Madrid’s Casa how we distributed the content this unique audiovisual coverage. to all RTVE channels, from radio América or streaming to conventional An audio feed taken from the television. mixing desk for the event was latencies, as well as graphics fed in stereo over a cable to a overlays and preloaded videos, Technologies like AI and 5G camera. This audio, the very among other technical have been on RTVE’s innovation same that was enjoyed by possibilities. agenda for several years. In the anyone listening to the FM radio area of telecoms technology in broadcast, served as the unique Added to the system, particular, we have taken reference for all devices and synchronized across the different pioneering steps for the media formats served by the connected devices, was footage sector as a partner in the audiovisual coverage. from three smartphones, European 5G-MEDIA project. CLOUD-BASED PRODUCTION connected to a Wi-Fi network FIRST STEPS The camera receiving the audio generated with a 5G router This particular journey, however, was a standard RTVE model, but through the TVU Anywhere began in June 2019, at the 7th was now connected to a TVU application. Global 5G Event in Valencia, we One backpack, a unit with six mounted what was one of the modems, two of which are 5G The different video and audio world’s first stand-alone live 5G and the rest 4G. The backpack signals were mixed and broadcasts for television. Within signal was sent to a virtual mixer simultaneously distributed a month of that trial, we had system, TVU Producer, that directly to their destinations from begun using a public 5G network allows remote operation with low the virtual mixer. So, having for news contributions. started with a “simple” 5G broadcast 18 months previously, A further step forward was to we completed the circle in mix several cameras in the cloud leveraging native 5G and cloud and broadcast fully in 5G during broadcast techniques to a conference on advantages and distribute through the six risks of 5G in the audiovisual outputs available on the system: sector, organized by the in horizontal for YouTube, Twitter European Parliament. Then, as and Facebook, via RTMP for the part of 5G-MEDIA, a radio play RTVE website, SDI for our 24- called La vida es sueño was hour television channel, and – as mixed entirely using edge a novelty – in vertical for computing. Other cases – and Instagram. steps forward on this journey – included the use of purpose-built We hope that in 2021 we’ll be mobile apps to enable 5G able to go even further with this broadcasts and a pilot project to technology. install a small 5G cell in the Castilla-La Mancha parliament. tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021 7 All of these previous steps prepared the ground for a truly impressive operation. At the end of November 2020, Radio3 put a new generation of Latin

CLOUD-BASED PRODUCTION Live production in the cloud – learning through collaboration From roundtables to hands-on tests, Paola Sunna explains how EBU Members and industry players have been working together on discovering and defining best practices for the fast- emerging field of cloud-based live production. COVID-19 gave a boost to the use of the cloud for • A related topic that should not be underestimated media production. For post-produced content this is in terms of importance is intercom. Complex relatively straightforward. For live production it is a productions require a robust back-channel for serious challenge. team communication. Intercoms nowadays span the whole space from dedicated (robust) While office workers and families at home have hardware devices to virtual phone apps. It is a become reasonably used to working, teaching and question of picking the right tools and learning via Google Meet, Zoom and the like, understanding what dependencies are introduced. professional live productions are much more difficult to ‘cloudify’ because they require more real-time • Maybe the most important feature that users are interaction with strict timing constraints. Indeed, a asking for is being able to create and recall set-ups survey performed by the EBU Hybrid & Cloud easily. Given the potential complexity of the Production (HCP) group last September confirmed complete cloud-based set-up, it is essential to cloud production workflows to be the number one easily be able to go (back) to tested and trusted challenge for broadcasters. configurations. To address the need for cloud production best MARKET SOLUTIONS practices, the EBU HCP group adopted a multi- A second series of roundtables has put solution perspective approach: exchanging the latest user providers at the centre. In Q4 2020, the HCP group experiences, identifying market solutions and hosted sessions on Grabyo, Grass Valley’s AMPP, organizing hands-on testing. Kiswe Studio, Microsoft Azure, Simplylive, Sony’s USER EXPERIENCES Virtual Production, and VizRT’s Vectar Plus. Since September 2020, EBU Members have regularly exchanged cloud production experiences Solution providers can currently be divided into in biweekly group calls and dedicated roundtable two main groups: cloud infrastructure providers and sessions. In the latter, frontrunners present their providers of ‘applications’ that run on top of the latest learnings, triggering a subsequent cloud infrastructure. A further subset of the latter conversation between the participating Members. are companies with strong broadcast expertise, that The presentations are recorded, so those who are effectively creating the cloud equivalent of what missed a session can watch it later on. So far, used to be hardware products (like video switchers). experiences from BR, RTBF, RTÉ, VRT and Yle have At the other end of the spectrum we find ‘digital been shared, providing insights into innovative services’ companies, where the emphasis is more on production approaches for both television and radio. interfaces and workflows. The business model for all of them is a subscription and/or pay-as-you-use-it Several areas emerged quickly as requiring further model. exploration: HANDS-ON TESTING • The first one is the choice of interconnect, The third activity of the HCP group consists of a number of hands-on trials in which Members and including decisions on bandwidth, video stream vendors test cloud-based live production set-ups. codec (and settings), and bitrate. SRT is a popular The first one was organized last month, for the choice for many current operations, but Biathlon World Championships 2020 in Antholz. interoperability between applications and even More tests are being planned for 2021. between dedicated SRT encoders and decoders Learn, share, test! can be tricky to get right. The EBU group on Hybrid and Cloud Production • Minimizing latency is a key aim. Depending on the has over 150 EBU Member participants. The group combination of tools and interconnects this can is led by Conrad Gouws (RTÉ) and Markus easily go up to seconds (for the round-trip), which Ostertag (SWR), with Ievgen Kostiukevych and would rule out remote camera control and Frans de Jong of the EBU T&I team coordinating. complicate two-way communication. The group meets ‘in the cloud’ every second week. • Mix-minus audio is high on the list as another point Besides continuing the roundtables series (with to check. In practice, mix-minus returns for remote Members and vendors) and trials, the group is contributors can be created relatively easily with working on a report with use cases, requirements, audio matrices and mixers, but for ease of use it is etc. More at tech.ebu.ch/hcp important to know how much of this functionality is present and directly usable in the cloud-based tools. 8 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

Testing cloud-based production at the Biathlon World Championships At the end of January 2021, the EBU, Eurovision Yle, Finland Media Services, Finnish broadcaster Yle, Italian broadcaster Rai, Grass Valley, and Simplylive respectively, Simplylive and Grass Valley’s AMPP worked together to test cloud-based live production tools. The set-up was intended as the production technology during the Biathlon World precursor to a larger trial where special attention Championships in Antholz (Italy). For this test, the will be paid to remote control of the cameras, focus was on the backhaul of six feeds: three audio, remote commentaries, and graphics different main programme feeds and three integration. additional remote-controlled PTZ cameras at the shooting range and an interview location. The signals were received in Geneva, Helsinki and Turin, with Yle and Rai staff validating the reception in their broadcast centres using, Eurovision Media Services, Switzerland Rai, Italy 2020 Biathlon World Cloud-based production tests Championships, Antholz, Italy RTP Stream 3 x production feeds 6 x SRT streams Encoder Public internet RTP Stream 3 x remote feeds Sketch of the set-up for the first cloud production trial in Antholz. tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021 9

TRANSLATION & RECOMMENDATION TECHNOLOGY Strength in diversity: multiplying the value of Europe’s newsrooms Justyna Kurczabinska, Head of the EBU News Exchange & News Strategy, introduces an innovative digital news collaborative project that gives journalists – and soon the audience – almost real-time access, in their own language, to news published across the EBU membership. Public service media is Europe’s updated list of additional articles in the News Exchange, including largest newsroom, spending EUR on the same topic published by radio-only Members who wish to 5.5 billion annually and other sources, generated using integrate their content. This employing over 40,000 AI and machine learning expansion of the pilot has been journalists. There are 47 technology from the EBU possible thanks to the recent international all-news PSM PEACH project. For busy decision of the EBU News services active in 2020, and journalists, this means precious Committee to invest reserve many PSM are considered the time is not wasted searching for funds that had been earmarked most trusted news brands in their additional relevant content – for news in the monitoring tool, respective countries.1 they have what they need at as a strategic innovation project. their fingertips. The tool has the potential to PSM produce strong, trusted become an essential PSM hub of digital content and have trusted All articles are translated articles from all around Europe. digital platforms. The problem is automatically into English, As more Members join, the that, today, we do not have thanks to another EBU project, diversity of views will increase. in-depth digital collaboration in EuroVOX. The user can perform news, and we are thus not translations into additional 2021 will also see a move to leveraging our strengths to the languages at the press of a testing the public-facing vision, full. button. The tool currently displaying news from all around supports Finnish, French, Europe on online pages where What if we could exchange German, Italian, Portuguese, the participating news providers online content between PSM Spanish and Swedish, and more choose to integrate it as the newsrooms in Europe? languages can easily be added. Recommendation Box. This EBU NEWS PILOT EUROPEAN CITIZENS News B2C project is now co- With this question in mind, in the The PSM organizations funded by the EU2 and has ten spring of 2020 the EBU and 14 of participating in the project are participating Member its Members began to pilot a convinced that impactful, fact- organizations as of February collaborative way of sharing based, and trustworthy news 2021. digital news content among with public service values should themselves. It was initially only be offered to the European Each participating company for monitoring purposes audience more widely than will have full editorial control of internally in their newsrooms, but today. This need is underlined by all content published on its also with a vision to explore the internationally relevant topics services. All workflows and possibility of publishing these like climate change, the refugee technical solutions will be news items in several languages crisis, tensions and polarization across the participants’ online in European politics, and, right platforms in the future. now, the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 At the time of writing, the pandemic. monitoring tool that emerged from this project is collecting an In the words of Eric Scherer, average of more than 750 co-chair of the Steering articles daily, offered through a Committee, “This is a strategic simple web interface. project for all of us: for the EBU, for its Members and, not least, The application allows editors for European citizens. This is a to filter the content by tool against populism, a tool categories (sports, environment, against misinformation, a very politics, science, etc.), by source, important tool.” and by date. Text queries can be NEXT STEPS entered to search for specific February 2021 marked the roll- keywords. out of the monitoring tool to all the EBU Members participating At the end of every article, the user is offered a constantly 1 Public Service Media and News – EBU 2020 Media Intelligence Service 10 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

TRANSLATION & RECOMMENDATION TECHNOLOGY designed to ensure this goal is Eurovision news monitoring achieved. tool: what’s under the hood? Our value proposition lies in Sébastien Noir, Head of Software Engineering in the EBU creating a first phase for an Technology & Innovation Department, describes the main innovative network of news technical building blocks of the tool. platforms sharing stories of high relevance and pan-European We designed the news review the steps taken: interest. The approach is based monitoring tool in close transcriptions can be corrected on using only high-quality consultation with editors and both in terms of text and timings content from respected public journalists, incorporating their to make the content more service brands on platforms that feedback directly in the accessible. Once done this makes already have a significant development. The goal is a tool for a better translation, although audience in their own countries. that is easy to use, requires no the translation too can be edited This kind of news collaboration training, and provides immediate if required. Finally, a video can be is distinctive, novel, and in the value to the user. rendered from the translation long run might offer an using a synthetically voiced important alternative to social Flexibility is an essential quality presenter, and optionally with media platforms. of the project. Every EBU either burned-in or embedded PARTICIPATING MEMBERS Member has its own tools and subtitles. The 14 participating EBU workflows. We designed the pilot Members are: Belgium – RTBF; with solutions for all: content can PEACH uses machine learning Finland – YLE; Germany – BR, be pushed to the tool’s API at and AI to provide ‘related article’ Deutsche Welle, ARD/ time of publication, or the tool recommendations. It works by Tagesschau and ZDF; Ireland – can retrieve the newest articles converting each article into a RTE; Italy – RAI; Portugal – RTP; every few minutes on the vector representation using Spain – RTVE; Sweden – SR; Member’s REST API. pre-trained deep-learning Switzerland – Swissinfo (SRG language models. The goal is that SSR); France – FTV and ARTE. Once articles are ingested into similar articles (semantically the system, they are converted to similar, even if different words are 2 The EU funding has been awarded by the Directorate- a standard format: every article is used) would be represented by General for Communications Networks, Content and represented as a list of sections vectors that are similar. Technology (DG CNECT) as part of a project entitled (title, lead, headings, paragraphs, “Towards a European Public Sphere: Multilingual images, media, quotes). The text The vectors used may have Programmes from across Europe”. In addition to the component of every section can more than 100 dimensions to EBU’s Recommendation Box, the funding provides then be translated. The audio and capture the semantics of support to the European Collection, a curated selection video files are downloaded and sentences. To find similar articles of documentaries, magazine shows and reports on sent to EuroVOX for transcription to a given article, we look up all current issues in European politics and society. The and translation. vectors representing each article European Collection is coordinated by ARTE and draws present in the hub and select the on programmes produced by France Télévisions, As soon as the text translation closest in the multi-dimensional Switzerland’s SRG SSR, and Germany’s ARD and ZDF. is available, the article becomes space. The common selection is made available in five visible in the web application. languages throughout Europe on the partners’ digital This process takes a matter of PEACH can also make use of platforms. minutes. The journalists therefore user data; approaches like have access to the news almost collaborative filtering will be in real-time. taken later, when the content is shown to end users. The translation of content is handled by EuroVOX. Developed The next iterations of the tool by the EBU and its Members, it is will provide automatic extraction an open toolbox for transcription, of topics from the articles. These translation and revoicing. It will be used to surface trending provides a single unified interface topics in real-time, so that to language tools from the major journalists can quickly identify cloud platforms (AWS, Microsoft what is happening now, from the Azure, Google, Speechmatics, perspective of EBU newsrooms. DeepL, etc) alongside the ability The user experience will also to plug in smaller vendors and evolve, to permit a more focused custom models. It also provides a exploration of the diverse web application that enables content produced by European easy transcription and translation PSM. of content. See tech.ebu.ch/eurovox and tech.ebu.ch/peach. Journalists and editors can tech-tie|cthe-cih|.etebcuh.c.ehb|uD.cehc|eMmabrecrh22002201 11

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Looking beyond the media technology horizon A recent report from a group of public service media R&D labs presents an ambitious vision of the future media landscape. Hans Hoffmann and David Wood here summarize the three broad trends identified. The EBU Broadcast Technology 1. TOMORROW’S USER experience, including using Futures (BTF) group, which EXPERIENCE more sophisticated voice brings together senior staff from The rise of what can be termed activation and digital assistants. public service media R&D labs, ‘ambient media’ will have an The options may be chosen has recently published a report impact in two domains: the user’s by the user or be triggered with their insights on the future control and the user’s sense of automatically by the local technologies that may be part reality. environment or by the user’s of, and help shape, the media needs. environment in the coming In the future users will have decades. ever greater control over In addition to this increased what is before them – greater personalization, users will have This article is a taster, with personalization. Services can a greater sense of reality. This much more detail in the full include elements that provide will include more realistic images, report, available from additional information about the sound that can reproduce tech.ebu.ch/btf2020. current viewing experience, help width, height, and depth, and to find content of interest for the multimodal presentations that The report concludes that new user, recommend content, and may include haptics (technology media technology will arrive more. that stimulates the senses of as component parts of three touch and motion). ‘Space- broad trends, related to user The next decades may sharing’ content viewing may be experience, content production thus bring more options possible, through which people in and content delivery. The trends for personalizing the media may impact at the same time or separately, and one may be Ambient media consequent on another. Exactly Greater personalization what arrives, and when, will and sense of reality depend on local contexts and what is developed. There will be User a ‘right time’ for the introduction Experience and success of a range of new technologies, but it will not Delivery Production be the same in all countries. And the future will, of course, Cooperative delivery Rich production include developments that arise Any user terminal; Greater flexibility; multi- unforeseen today. broadcast and broadband platform content production If there is a common overall thread to the trends foreseen it may be greater convenience and flexibility for the user and the programme maker and, most importantly, that the customer experience and value proposition will be at the focus of innovations. 12 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT Who is in Broadcast – separately or at the same time new content forms and user Technology Futures group? – targeting a range of different experiences will see media • BBC, UK content formats, each serving services being available on a • EBU, Switzerland different markets or different wider range of different types of • IRT, Germany groups of users. receivers. The range of delivery • NHK, Japan platforms will remain terrestrial, • Rai, Italy The decades to come will bring satellite, cable, IPTV, wired and • Yle, Finland programme production that wireless internet and Wi-Fi, • VRT, Belgium meets the needs of future user but some will be limited in the experiences in a multiformat new kinds of services they can different locations may share the world. Infrastructures will provide provide because of bandwidth or emotions of the experience with local, remote, and distributed other limitations. each other. production by using IP-based networks, the cloud and The new wireless broadband The overall impact will be a serverless computing. Production systems 5G and eventually 6G heightening of the sense of resources will become more may have a significant role in reality through more immersion ‘available on demand’. The new providing media services. An and increased image and sound workflows that will become attractive option may be to quality. A further new experience possible will have a major impact combine broadband services may be created by combining on programme making. Metadata with broadcast services and real or conventional media will continue to be a key enabler. create ‘intelligent concurrent content with digitally created AI and machine learning tools will networks’. worlds. The BTF report goes support editorial staff in a variety into greater detail on all of these of tasks, including programme FACTORS SHAPING SUCCESS aspects and more. generation and detection of fake The technologies and services news. And both sustainability that will be successful in 2. TOMORROW’S CONTENT and content accessibility will be practice will depend not only PRODUCTION strategic challenges for content on the novelty and capability The second trend foreseen production. of the technology itself, but on by the BTF group is the rise a collection of success factors of ‘rich production’ for media The full report, again, goes that include: the prevailing content. Production facilities will into detail on the points above, societal and media climates; the increasingly be arranged to allow showing the ways in which desirability, affordability and production locally or remotely content production may be availability of equipment and or a combination of both. This transformed. content; the challenges then will include outsourcing some or faced by media providers; the all of the production chain, and 3. TOMORROW’S MEDIA need that the new development the use of the cloud (or, in fact, DELIVERY would fulfil; and others. multiple clouds). The third trend detailed in the report can be summarized as Can we go further and A further aspect of this trend the rise of ‘cooperative delivery’. predict more precisely what will will be increased production This will firstly be marked by the happen in the coming decades? flexibility, whereby it will be emergence of a mixed delivery Unfortunately, the future will be possible for content to be made environment, where both determined not only by what broadcasting and broadband is probable based on today’s – wireless or wired – provide knowledge, but also by ideas and media services. Each will have systems that emerge unforeseen their strengths, and different in the coming years. But while combinations will be used in consequently we cannot predict different countries. 5G may be the exact shape the media will combined with satellite and/ take in the coming years, it or terrestrial broadcasting in is reasonable to assume that intelligent cooperation. the trends and tendencies identified today by the BTF This will be coupled with group and detailed in the report the increasing availability of are accurate and will be among all services on any terminal, those that will happen. including fixed TV or radio sets, portables, tablets or Read the report and form smartphones. Content providers your own judgement about will, in each case, make use of what is at or beyond the the specific capabilities of these media technology horizon. It devices to reach and engage is available for download from: with audiences. tech.ebu.ch/btf2020 The delivery to the user of tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021 13

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY Who needs conventional broadcast networks when you’ve got the internet! Right? Roland Beutler (SWR), who chairs the EBU strategic programme on Distribution, recommends caution when it comes to relying on the Big Tech companies. Above all, PSM organizations must work together. With the proliferation reach, prominence, attribution, building their own of the internet and its branding, control and costs. network infrastructure apparently unlimited IN THE OLD DAYS to connect the world. opportunities, many The internet used to be a web Facebook is launching a representatives of public in the proper sense, meaning it global satellite network; service media (PSM) consisted of many independent Google plans to deploy organizations seem entities such as different core its own undersea cable to be losing faith in and access networks, exchange between the US and conventional broadcast points and peering arrangements Asia. distribution networks. between participants. Microsoft We see PSM focusing primarily sold operating systems On top of controlling more and more on and office software, Google was the physical internet on-demand content a search engine and Amazon a infrastructure, Amazon, and services, which bookseller. This is now a fading Facebook, Google and require bidirectional memory. Apple are major content communication. The latter, by providers through their definition, cannot be offered The so-called GAFAM respective platforms. Google by unidirectional broadcast companies (see image) set out to and Apple have a dominant networks. However, broadband completely control the internet global footprint in mobile devices networks, both fixed and mobile, infrastructure end-to-end. using their respective operating which may be the appropriate Google and Amazon had built systems, Android and iOS. They option, are usually beyond the huge server farms to cope with are also now present in stationary control of PSM organizations. their original services. These are devices such as smart TVs and They can make use of broadband now also used to offer all kinds increasingly in cars, with Android networks only in the same way of cloud services to external Automotive and Apple CarPlay. as any other service provider customers. They are heavily And finally, even though the who wants to deliver some used by PSM organizations in European Commission tries to data or communicate with production, contribution and contain their influence, GAFAM its customer base. Renting or distribution of their media seem to operate outside national leasing dedicated capacity on services. or even supernational regulation. managed broadband networks DANCING WITH THE DEVIL may quickly become a very In the past, the deployment So, can the internet take care of expensive endeavour. of undersea cables or satellite the distribution of our content networks was typically achieved and services? In principle yes, but It is not surprising, therefore, through creating international PSM organizations should follow that there is massive hype about consortia. Nowadays, Google the advice of a popular German over-the-top (OTT) distribution and Facebook are pursuing these (actually Bavarian) song: “If you across the internet. It helps to kinds of network deployments want to dance with the devil, you increase the reach of media independently. They target better wear good shoes!” offers, is undoubtedly very It’s unlikely that PSM will be flexible, and can in principle able to buy good shoes off- give access to content both the-shelf. Our only option is to at home and on the move. join forces to gain visibility in Most importantly, it targets a GAFAM-dominated internet strategically relevant devices world. This means defining our such as smartphones and tablets. requirements and injecting them into the right bodies and PSM organizations make use standardization groups in a of OTT distribution through timely manner. The currently their own apps and websites. widespread notion of being But they also utilize third-party better off going one’s own way platforms. Both ways have their will fail when trying to dance pros and cons when it comes with GAFAM. to fulfilling the requirements of PSM organizations related to 14 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

SUSTAINABILITY MATTERS Tackling climate change one conversation at a time In January 2021, a new company-wide mobile app went live at ITV. Home Planet aims to make sustainability part of the day-to-day technology conversation at the UK broadcaster. Matt O’Shea tells the story. We started the platform was how ITV Home Planet quickly we could iterate journey in November – we failed really fast! 2019. ITV was busy We’d implement ideas developing new 2030 as we thought of them environmental targets and when they didn’t and I had just taken on work, we’d row back. the role of Technology The no-code approach Lead for ITV’s Green made for rock-solid Team Steering Group, releases, so no need the group responsible for all the effort of for embedding change testing or release on the ground. management. I was thrilled and individuals could compete, and THE TEAM GROWS nervous – I still am! great tips for sustainable living. We had fantastic I’ve been working support from ITV with technology for Although convinced we had Technology leadership. more years than I a good idea, we hit our first The results of a care to remember, blocker: we had no funding pilot were great. We and I understand how and there were only two of us! expanded our team serious climate change On the upside, Marc is a great to three – enter Anna! is, but bringing the two technologist, and I had a sense She added a much- things together is tricky of what good looked like. Hey needed creative touch to the and it’s new ground. There are presto, we were a two-person application, turbo-charged our two things working in my favour: product team! plans and made the idea of an the issue of climate change ITV-wide roll-out a reality. is one that the ITV teams will We were going to need a At the time, the ITV Client engage with brilliantly, and the low-cost, low-barrier-to-entry Strategy team was working on people who work at ITV are a (so no databases!), intuitive a commercial proposition called clever bunch. If we could raise platform. A platform that Home Planet. There were clear the profile of sustainable living anyone could use to build synergies between their goals and climate change, bring the mobile phone applications. A and ours, they loaned us their issue forward in the mind of no-code platform. Marc quickly branding (huge thanks Client our technology teams, then the got to work testing no-code Strategy!) and the product was plans would follow! platforms, and I added tips for complete. GAMIFICATION living sustainably to a Google It’s early days but there are Discussing all this with Marc, a Sheet. Marc found a platform signs of something good. colleague, we knew we needed that ticked all the boxes: Glide Sustainability is more a part of to get the issue of climate uses spreadsheets as a data the technology conversation change out there, and in the source, it has a brilliant user than ever, and the teams are right way. The engagement interface, and (boom!) it has a setting up to rebalance the should be fun; we wanted free tier. Marc plugged Glide into impact of technology on the to inform and to inspire my tips spreadsheet, and we environment. conversation. It was decided, we had ourselves a prototype! Our no-code experience in would gamify sustainable living! developing and releasing Home The great thing about the Planet has shown us that the What would become ITV days of monolithic programmes Home Planet was born – and are behind us. With today’s we had set our sights beyond technologies, the right idea and the technology teams. Our very a small product team, our ideas own mobile application would can be realized as swiftly as be available to everyone at ITV, they can be communicated. with leaderboards so teams and tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021 15

IN MY OPINION Finding new levers to meet the challenges of tomorrow The France Télévisions group of tomorrow will be free from the constraints of infrastructure and boosted by AI, writes CTO/CIO Frédéric Brochard. Today, artificial intelligence already enables us to communication, and the development of collective increase our potential and supports our public intelligence assisted by AI. service remit by improving, for example, the accessibility of our 24/7 news channel franceinfo Moreover, other innovations, such as the with the imminent deployment of semi-automatic development of open-source smart TV 24/7 subtitling intended for the deaf and hard of technologies, or even 5G, are encouraged by the hearing. development of synergies through our collaborations and our sharing of experiences with COLLABORATION & VIRTUALIZATION other players from the French public service Due to changing contexts, illustrated by the major audiovisual sector and within the EBU. COVID-19 crisis, and new modes of programme ESSENTIAL ROLE FOR EBU consumption, a successful business transformation All European public service broadcasters face the requires us to be ever more mobile and scalable. same challenges – adapting to new uses, new Staying ahead of changes in collaboration methods competition, the proliferation of technologies and and business needs therefore becomes a priority. The virtualization and flexibility of distribution channels – while resources our technical ecosystem, far from signifying stagnate or even decrease in most cases. greater individualization, allows us to However, it is unthinkable to reduce the maintain proximity and increased resources allocated to content creation, collaboration in all circumstances. The tools so it becomes necessary to find new adapt and make it easier to ‘do it together’ levers. This is where I see the role of the by abolishing distances and physical or EBU as critical in bringing together geographic requirements. experts and interested Members around a topic. Offering virtualized and secure systems, However, it seems essential to me to incorporating the latest innovations focus energies on the most interesting available from ordinary laptops, activities and with the highest accessible with one click from added value for as many anywhere in the world, allows Members as possible. I am our specialists to focus on their convinced that CTOs are in the value-creating activities. The best position to determine the recent deployment of an office strategic axes to be followed suite as SaaS (Microsoft Office thanks to their scope of action 365), remote production, or within their company. I hope even the virtualization of the that, in the near future, we can entire news editing process convene a discussion among (Dalet Galaxy xCloud), are CTOs in order to help the only individual steps towards EBU’s Technology & greater sharing, facilitated Innovation department and the Technical Committee to “It seems essential direct the work towards the to me to focus most strategic and energies on the significant projects. most interesting The health crisis has activities and with confirmed the importance the highest added of our public service remits value for as many and the social ties that we Members as possible.” have helped to maintain, through our education, FRÉDÉRIC BROCHARD information and culture CTO AND CIO, FRANCE TÉLÉVISIONS offers. It is up to us to confirm that the ties that 16 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021 bind our companies will enable us to meet the challenges of tomorrow!

PARTNER PROFILES Still serving broadcasters, with more urgency than ever Hosted at EBU headquarters, the DVB Project has worked closely with broadcasters from the very start. DVB’s Head of Technology Emily Dubs explains why this mutually beneficial relationship has a renewed importance. In the DVB Project, we have Emily Dubs, DVB’s Head of Technology RELY ON DVB-I seen a slow but steady Our strategy is to optimize, decrease in the representation where a multitude of other which is to say standardize, of broadcasters, with the apps are installed. And from the this usage of hybrid manufacturers’ constituency viewer’s point of view this leads networks, offering substantial gaining in prominence. This may to fragmented and inconsistent opportunities for broadcasters, be partly due to broadcasters’ user experiences without the based on the overall DVB-I increasing use of external simplicity they are accustomed package. The latter, inter alia, technology providers. Our work, to with television. allows DVB services to easily however, is more than ever a key reach any type of IP device success factor for broadcasters. DVB sees the internet-driven without requiring any specific And, virtuously, broadcaster transformation and the range application or integration. This involvement in DVB’s work is of innovative features it has will greatly help broadcasters also essential for the relevance enabled as an opportunity for to secure their prominence in a of that work! broadcast. We believe that an cost-effective way, while offering ideal media delivery landscape a seamless and unified hybrid DVB has long been recognized is a world where intelligent use experience to the users. for its widely adopted open of the unique characteristics of standards, initially tailored by both broadcast and broadband DVB’s internet-centric and for the broadcast industry. networks enables a new wave solutions also promise new The flagship specifications DVB- of innovation and growth for prospects for broadcasters such T/C/S offer reliable delivery of both broadcast and broadband as: television services to at least 1.5 stakeholders. One could say that • the possibility to offer tailored billion receivers worldwide. the media industry’s future is all THE INTERNET CHALLENGE about IP, but for sure it will be user experiences; In parallel, the internet, often a very long journey and hybrid • a means of offsetting the seen as a different universe, networks will be the norm for a has definitely transformed the long time yet. This is why DVB drop in advertising revenues way we consume television: is focused today on IP-centric through the use of targeted giving access to a much greater solutions where IP services are advertising (more valuable range of content, allowing delivered seamlessly through than traditional advertising); consumption to be easily time- a variety of access networks • a role to play in the 5G area, shifted or personalized, and (classic DVB networks and any with DVB-I as a common bringing television to a much form of broadband network). media layer. greater range of devices that In addition to optimizing compete with the main living- distribution costs, a range of room screen. OTT services rose new opportunities will also on the back of a flourishing arise from the possibility to of innovation but they also seamlessly switch the delivery created a huge challenge for the means and deliver OTT through television industry. satellite, for instance, to reach remote areas. Most broadcasters have tried DVB’s mandate today is thus to adapt in order to secure to deliver IP-centric solutions their prominence within the for unified and reliable media connected TV environment: delivery serving the needs of more than 70% of EBU Members the entire television industry, now offer a streaming app and especially broadcasters PSM are increasingly involved struggling to serve all audiences in SVOD. But apps come with a in the face of increased variety of downsides, ranging competition and changing from expensive maintenance viewing habits. on multiple platforms to poor We’d love to have your visibility on end-user devices involvement. Please get in touch! dubs@dvb.org 17 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

MEDIA INTELLIGENCE No single approach to sign-in dominates The EBU Media Intelligence Service recently published a detailed report on user behaviour and technology trends related to sign-in. Léa Besson and Dorien Verckist summarize some findings related to sign-in at EBU Members. Sign-in has become more the Figure 1. Obligation to sign-in to access content, expressed as a % of Members Source: based on Members’ data, including 32 Members who answered the question rule rather than the exception for with a sign-in feature accessing online services. The feature is implemented by many (but not all) public service media (PSM) throughout Europe and its importance is expected to grow. However, implementing a sign- in system (and especially those based on social platforms) raises some questions. Through logins, online services and the companies behind them gain access to valuable first-party data. Such data can be used for a wide range of purposes; within PSM, our recent report shows, sign-in is mostly implemented to improve the user experience. Consequently, it is no surprise that 70% of EBU Members indicate sign-in development to be important. The implementation of sign-in differs between Members. Thirty- one percent of Members who have the sign-in feature require its use to access some of their content or services, while 38% have no plans to make sign-in mandatory. Members where sign-in is mandatory to access all content remain the exception, at 3% (Figure 1). SOCIAL SIGN-IN Figure 2. Availability of social sign-in, expressed as a % of Members with a Making sign-in mandatory could sign-in feature have an impact on the users. With growing concerns over data Europeans when accessing online though two out of five Members privacy, users have become more services. Among youngsters (15 continue to offer social sign-in, reluctant to share personal data to 24 years old) the number rises 16% of Members have withdrawn with companies. to 50%. This makes social the the feature, pointing to a second most-used log-in method. possible loss of popularity for One of the key accelerators in the approach among some EBU this surge in privacy awareness Despite its popularity, Members (Figure 2). was the Cambridge Analytica EBU Members appear to be scandal, which concerned data ambivalent on the issue, with It will be interesting to see obtained from Facebook users. debate presumably fuelled by which path EBU Members and Accordingly, the debate on social the privacy-related objections. other companies choose over the log-in has become particularly Where social log-in is available, years ahead. prominent. Facebook remains the leading platform. EBU Members can access the Data from the European complete report “The Power of Commission shows that social According to EBU data, even Sign-in” by visiting: ebu.ch/mis log-in is used by 29% of 18 tech-i | tech.ebu.ch | March 2021

OUR COMMUNITY Conference videos on demand A selection of recent additions to our rich library of videos from EBU Technology & Innovation events, available to Members from: tech.ebu.ch/presentations SUSTAINABILITY AND REMOTE VIRTUAL PRODUCTION MANIFESTO FOR AN PRODUCTION WORKFLOWS: THE RIPPLE AUTOMOTIVE USER CÉDRIC LEJEUNE EFFECT EXPERIENCE KATHRYN BRILLHART & ERIK MARTIN KOCH (AUDI) Assessing the environmental WEAVER (ETC) impacts of shifting to remote Creating a great radio work Using LED video walls and experience in the car game engines IN THE SPOTLIGHT technological changes in the background are the usage of AI wherever possible, the transition to full Karl Petermichl IP media transport, and the adoption of virtualized, containerized and highly abstracted applications STRATEGY AND GOVERNANCE OFFICER and processes in the cloud. TO THE CTO, ÖSTERREICHISCHER RUNDFUNK (ORF) WHAT, FOR YOU, ARE THE BIGGEST WHAT ARE YOUR CURRENT RESPONSIBILITIES? CHALLENGES FOR EBU MEMBERS TODAY? I serve as “chief of staff” to the Chief Technical In a world of social media overload and highly Officer of the ORF. This includes responsibility for competitive private broadcasters, a world of fake governance processes and innovation management, news and challenges like global pandemics and coordination of workgroups and interdisciplinary climate change, it is all about maintaining our values projects, and alignment of our strategy and and at the same time staying relevant for our processes with finance, legal, programming and the audience, to fulfill an important duty within modern general management of the ORF. society and to help shape the future. All public broadcasters must operate highly efficiently, offer WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER AS YOUR FINEST the highest standards of accountability and ACHIEVEMENT SO FAR IN YOUR CAREER? transparency, adhere to EU regulations and media Over my 35 years in the company I have covered laws, and at the same time have to deliver for both various positions, from sound engineer to project new and legacy formats, care about sustainability, manager, from technical lead of 115 direct reports to and work towards diversification. Overall, I think it is my current position, so there is no single answer to the aspect of “managing complexity” between this question. In general, I am very happy that I am all those constraints and enablers that is well connected with all the different departments in the biggest challenge for all of us. the ORF, that I could be a mentor for many aspiring engineers over the years, and that I am part of the TELL US ABOUT SOME OF YOUR constant transformation of the ORF mission and INTERESTS AWAY FROM THE vision, products and services – to serve our audience WORKPLACE. now and in the future. As a teenager I wanted to become a professional jazz musician, on WHAT ARE YOUR PREDICTIONS FOR MEDIA Hammond organ and synthesizers. TECHNOLOGY IN THE FUTURE? During our rehearsals and concerts I The focus must be on the end user and how we can always was the “sound guy” – which deliver products that are wanted and consumed brought me to electronic engineering – media technology has to adapt to everything that and into the broadcast industry is necessary to achieve this. This means more eventually. Listening to music fragmentation in the production formats (from and participating in the smartphone to UHD quality), in the distribution cultural and creative scene methods (linear and on-demand, broadcasting and here in Vienna is still my main streaming) and in the delivery packages (from joy on weekends, as well as ultra-short to feature length and from audio and spending time with my family, video to virtual reality and data overlays). The hiking and boating. Karl Petermichl was elected to the EBU Technical Committee in October 2020

tech.ebu.ch/events/broadthinking2021 Everything OTT 23–24 March 2021 online tech.ebu.ch/events/sustainability2021 Greener futures for media 22 April 2021 online tech.ebu.ch/events/mdn2021 Everything metadata 25–26 May 2021 online Join us and the industry’s leading experts for technology updates, strategic insights and real-world use cases, plus demonstrations and networking. te2c0h.teecbh-iu| t.ecchh.e/bue.cvh |eMnarcths2021