Upcoming changes in the broadcasting market are on the minds of many at IBC. The digital TV transition in the United States and the growing market for multi-platform broadcasting promise to have a fundamental impact on the traditional means of doing business.

The transition to multiple content platforms, driven by the demands of today’s on-the-go consumers, already is changing the operations of some companies, and as content providers have to deliver their service across many devices, the companies that supply the broadcasting technology have to adjust. “In a multi-platform market, single-focused platform providers will be squeezed out,” said one exhibitor. “If you provide individual components and that’s the only bit [of the delivery system] you sell, it will become harder and harder to survive.”

The digital TV transition in the United States, while five months and an ocean away, also is firmly on the minds of show attendees. All full-power broadcast television stations in the United States will stop broadcasting analog signals Feb. 17 and begin broadcasting only in digital. The move will allow stations to offer improved picture and sound quality and additional channels, and many broadcasting-related companies see potential revenue opportunities. 

This switch already has been made in some European countries, so the equipment providers have had experience in the transition and have specific products designed to aid broadcasters in the transition. Others are looking beyond the switch at possibilities for revenue generation that can be created in the new digital world.

And the pace of change is so rapid that at least one exhibitor says it is hard to make long-range plans because it is difficult to predict where the broadcasting sector will head next. “There’s not much point in looking 10 years ahead.”