IBC 2014 TV Announcements

Over this past weekend, from Sept. 11 – 15, the annual International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Many corporations and businesses revealed exciting developments and new technologies, several of which are affecting the television industry.

Here’s an overview of many of those communiques, as well as statements of note from various corporate leaders during enlightening panel sessions.



David Mercer of StrategyAnalytics presented an intriguing infographic on how people are viewing television in the era of second-screens:

How do people watch TV in the multiscreen era? Answer in infographic #ibcshow #ibcthu http://t.co/lXsezub7ab pic.twitter.com/C3kiVWTH6F
— David Mercer (@DavidMercer_SA) September 11, 2014

Google hopes to engage television companies:

Theme of Google keynote is that they (Google) are encouraging TV industry to work with them as they will help TV "innovate faster" #IBCShow
— IBC (@IBCShow) September 12, 2014

At the “TV 2020 experience and how to get there” panel, Orange VP of Digital Innovation Patrice Slupowski described the remote control as his “personal enemy.” Worth noting, last year Slupowski stated he was “obsessed” with the device and feels that improvement efforts are needed.

Patrice Slupowski, Orange: The experience is broken. The TV remote has not changed in 30 years. #IBCShow show #IBCconf
— Janet Greco (@JanetGrecoBP) September 12, 2014

RelayTV demonstrated their social television app, which allows the viewer to contact their friends through the screen and ask them to change channels.

Noteworthy @RelayTV social integrated platform has the potential 2 increase audience participation #IBC2014 #IBCShow pic.twitter.com/scWS4nHvqW
— Paolo Pescatore (@paolopescatore) September 13, 2014

Video delivery service SPB TV unveiled a pyramid graphic of what OTT consumers desire, with a lack of advertising leading the charge.

The OTT TV Pyramid of Customer Needs, from @spbtv_com. Number one takeaway? Users do not like ads. #IBC2014 pic.twitter.com/crmwFGAHed
— VOD Professional (@vodprofessional) September 14, 2014

Other notable events include video technology company Kaltura winning the Best TV Everywhere/Multi-Screen Video Award for their KabelKiosk OTT application. In a press release, CEO Ron Yekutiel called it “the OTT of the future.”

HBO Europe has partnered with cloud platform developer ActiveVideo to offer the HBO Go app on set-top boxes.

“The marriage of libraries of the very best online content and the 10-foot viewing experience of television holds tremendous potential for pay-TV - online video collaboration,” said ActiveVideo CEO Jeff Miller.

And UK’s Freesat and SeaChange International allied to reveal a connected TV service with an EPG and recommendation engine.

“Freesat and SeaChange are helping service providers to reinforce their value and grow revenues with a fully-managed platform for advanced television capabilities,” stated Andrei Noppe, SVP and General Manager EMEA & APAc, SeaChange.

Overall, TV-related revelations were in full force at this year’s IBC. It seems to have been a successful event.

Author: Brian Cameron