M+E Europe

IBC Sept. 8 kicked off its annual show — this time as a virtual event — with exhibitor news, panels, post-production sessions and the unveiling of a series of 5G broadcast use cases to be shared later in the week.

IBC also announced that its highest award — the IBC 2020 International Honour for Excellence — will be awarded to the world’s news organisations at large during a livestreamed presentation Friday, hosted by BBC World News’ Kasia Madera.

The 5G announcement — which is part of IBC’s Accelerator Innovation Programme — is touting itself as a series of “broadcaster firsts” for 5G and remote production, with 10 of the world’s top broadcasters (BBC, Al Jazeera Media Network, BT Sport, EBU, ITV, Olympic Broadcasting Service, SVT, TV2, ViacomCBS Networks International VCNI and Yle) detailing via a live Sept. 10 transmission from Amsterdam bespoke workflows and architectures of proof-of-concept 5G broadcasts.

The demonstration will feature a live, multi-camera, multi-location production, powered by several technology ecosystem vendor participants, including Sony.

“Our challenge earlier this year was to explore and understand the ‘art of the possible’ in terms of a 5G-powered broadcast system, based on current and future use cases and a series of production scenarios in the field,” said project lead Ian Wagdin, senior technology transfer manager at BBC R&D. “With the IBC Show not happening this year, we seized on the creative opportunity to put those learnings into action by designing and configuring a live, multi-camera production as a demonstrator from three locations, that will bring a flavour of a much-missed Amsterdam to IBC’s audience.”

The IBC Showcase live transmission will also include a panel discussion from London, and viewers will be able to access links to a live 5G-enabled entertainment shoot controlled by AI cameras from a boat in the canals of Amsterdam, with MTV broadcasting a live 5G enabled remote production with artist Emma Heester.

“The IBC Accelerator programme is a framework to support industry collaboration and innovation,” said Mark Smith, programme head for IBC. “While the global pandemic stalled much of our planned lab testing and in-field experiments earlier in 2020, the team behind this unique collaboration of world leading broadcasting Champions were determined to put their learnings into practice, against a backdrop of their organisations accelerating strategies to decentralise production and remote production capabilities.”

IBC also announced Sept. 8 its decision to honour news organizations in general with its International Honour for Excellence, with a Sept. 11 presentation featuring a special programme featuring contributions from leading news organisations, including the BBC, CNN, ITV News on behalf of ITN, NBC Global News, TV Globo and Zee TV.

“The need for investigative journalism to separate fact from rumour has never been greater and the news organisations of the world have been unfailing in their drive to ask the difficult questions,” said IBC CEO Michael Crimp. “They have delivered clear, accurate and timely information, keeping audiences – even in isolated communities – informed about new regulations and complex science, while facing the same restrictions on travel and social distancing as everyone else.

“As the global forum for the broadcast and electronic media industry, it is important that we recognise the excellence that the world’s news organisations have consistently delivered during these challenging times and thank them for their dedication and service.”