THE IMPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES

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THE IMPACT OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES

• Philip Laven
• Director, Technical Department
• European Broadcasting Union
• EBU HR Plenary, Geneva 16 June 2005

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INTRODUCTION

• Technology is changing very rapidly
• Broadcasters must cope with major changes which
  will affect
• delivery to consumers
• production of content
• How will the new technologies change
• strategic direction of broadcasters?
• requirements for staff?
• organisational structures?

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PREDICTING THE FUTURE

• This advertisement for a flat-panel TV
  andelectronic-shopping appeared in the British
  magazine Lilliput in October 1945
• It is OK to predict what
• But never try to predict when

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EVOLUTION OF TV
HDTV
WidescreenTV
Hand-held device
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CONVERGENCE
or DIVERGENCE?
Internet services
Broadcasters
Internet
Broadcast delivery
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BYTE February 1996
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WIRED December 1998
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CONVERGENCE OF HARDWARE
?

• Viewing conditions are very different
• TVs are viewed from a considerable distance
• typically 6 - 10 times picture height
• computer users are much closer to the screen
• typically less than 2 times picture height
• TVs are often viewed by several people, whereas
  computer usage is a solitary activity
• TVs are unsuited to interactivity, but computers
  will be used to display TV programmes

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CONVERGENCE OF INDUSTRIES

• Will there be convergence between broadcasting
  and telecommunications?
• It is important to understand the differences
  between the delivery systems
• Basic difference
• broadcasting one-to-many
• telecoms one-to-one
• But broadcast delivery systems can also be used
  for one-to-one services
• Telecoms operators have recently discovered the
  benefits of one-to-many services (broadcasting)

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ECONOMICS OF TELECOMS

• Telecoms operators are in the business of
  delivery systems
• But delivery systems are becoming commodity
  services with many competing solutions
• Consumers are not interested in delivery systems,
  but they want attractive content
• Telecoms systems need attractive content
• Todays hope is that consumers will pay 1.50 for
  30 seconds of video replays of football or
  cricket
• Is TV the killer application for third-generation
  mobile phones?

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CONTRACTING OUT

• Contracting out some support services (e.g.
  catering, cleaning, building maintenance) has
  been very successful in many EBU Members
• costs have been reduced
• service levels have been maintained
• Can this concept be extended to core services?
• instead of producing all of their own content,
  many EBU Members commission independent producers
  to make some programmes
• they also use commercial facilities, such as
  production houses and outside broadcasts

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BROADCASTING VALUE CHAIN
Contentcreation
Programmescheduling
Distribution

• In the past, many broadcasters controlled every
  aspect of the production chain
• from microphone and camera
• to transmitting antenna
• The role of TV broadcasters has now changed
• very few have terrestrial transmitter networks
• they typically depend on others for distribution
  (e.g. cable or satellite infrastructure)

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FOUR BASIC MODELS
Contentcreation
Programmescheduling
Distribution
Contentcreation
Programmescheduling
Distribution
Contentcreation
Programmescheduling
Distribution
Contentcreation
Programmescheduling
Distribution
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MULTI-PLATFORM POLICY

• Broadcasters increasingly see themselves as
  content providers and are becoming agnostic
  about delivery systems
• Public service broadcasters have obligations to
  provide near-universal coverage
• in the past, universality was achieved by
  analogue terrestrial transmissions
• in the future, universality will be achieved by a
  combination of delivery platforms
• this multi-platform policy implies that
  broadcasters will make their services available
  on all platforms with significant audiences

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HOW MUCH TO PAY ?

• Some EBU Members have their own transmitter
  networks, but most pay network operators
• Some network operators seem to provide good
  services at reasonable prices, whilst others are
  very expensive
• Broadcaster-owned networks should be cheaper, but
  they might be inefficient
• Have your costs reduced in recent years?
• modern transmitters are more reliable ? lower
  maintenance costs ? less staff
• modern transmitters use less electricity
• if costs are constant, you are paying too much!

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EXTERNAL SUPPLIERS

• If you can specify the required services in a
  contract, you can probably use external suppliers
• but you must be an educated purchaser
• In many cases, your external suppliers will
  become monopoly providers because they understand
  your needs (better than you do)
• In-house expertise is essential
• do not throw the baby out with the bath water
• Eventually, your in-house experts will no longer
  have up-to-date knowledge of costs and options

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MORE DELIVERY SYSTEMS

• Increasing the number of delivery systems
  generally implies extra costs
• content must be re-purposed to suit the
  requirements of individual platforms (e.g.
  mobile phones, Internet, interactivity)
• the cost of many delivery systems increases with
  the number of listeners or viewers
• with traditional broadcasting, the marginal cost
  of extra listeners or viewers is ZERO

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GATEKEEPERS

• In the future, broadcasters will not control
  their own delivery mechanisms
• The network operators or service providers can
  control many aspects of broadcasting
• positioning in electronic programme guides
• technical standards (e.g. interactivity)
• charges for services (e.g. conditional access)
• initial costs might be low, but increase when the
  platform becomes successful
• They can act as gatekeepers
• some become very powerful gatekeepers

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PRICE TRENDS
Random-access memory
Factor of 2 in 18 months
Hard disks
Factor of 2 in 12 months
February 2005
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PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT

• All radio TV production will become tape-less
• tape-based production systems will be replaced by
  server-based systems
• Networked systems using servers offer enhanced
  facilities, such as
• remote access to archives
• several users can access and edit the same video
  clip simultaneously
• improved productivity

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PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES

• Computer-based systems are widely used for
  production of radio programmes
• Such systems are not yet ready for video
  production because video is much more demanding
  than office applications
• Computer-based systems offer many benefits for
  broadcasters, but effective implementation
  requires close cooperation between broadcast
  engineers and computer experts (not easy . . .)
• It is crucial that EBU Members should become
  educated purchasers of such technologies

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MAKING IT WORK . . . .

• IT-based systems usually depend on hardware and
  software from different suppliers
• each of which tends to blame the other when
  systems do not work
• During the installation phase, many broadcasters
  employ a system integrator who acts as the
  mediator between different suppliers
• When such systems are put into operational
  service, new problems are often encountered
• Consequently, the system integrator may have to
  remain on site to solve operational problems.
• This additional effort is very costly . . . . .

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PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

• With traditional broadcast equipment, much of the
  installation can be done by broadcasters staff
  who thus gain valuable inside knowledge
• With IT-based systems, there are very few
  broadcast engineers who can handle complex IT
  systems and very few IT engineers who can
  understand broadcasting . . . .
• Many pilot schemes for IT-based production have
  been late, over-budget and fail to deliver what
  the vendor promised

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RISK-TAKING

• IT-based systems are likely to have a shorter
  life than traditional equipment with higher
  costs for depreciation and maintenance
• It is hard work to get computer-based solutions
  working and even harder to keep them running.
  The good old days are over . . . . .
• Computer-based systems will eventually mature
  and deliver what the suppliers promise!
• until then, such systems are high risk
  investments
• Some EBU Members have had costly failures
• many EBU Members cannot afford to fail . . .

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THE WAY FORWARD ?
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CAN THE EBU HELP ?

• EBU Members can use their collective influence to
  promote the use of OPEN STANDARDS, which will
  permit inter-operability of systems from
  different vendors
• EBU Members must help each other by openly
  describing their difficulties and their solutions
• The EBU can facilitate such exchanges of
  information with the crucial aim of preventing
  costly mistakes by smaller broadcasters

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(No Transcript)
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NOW THE GOOD NEWS . . . . ??

• People problems are far worse than technical
  problems
• Even if you avoid failures of technology, you
  will need to persuade some people that the new
  systems are not designed to
• put them (or their colleagues) out of work
• make them work harder for no more money
• force them to learn new skills (multi-skilling)
• Training is an essential mechanism
• to overcome staff resistance
• to get the best from capital investments

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PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

• Efficiency gains are typically less than expected
• Most production staff
• want to be proud of their work
• want to make better programmes, rather than
  cheaper programmes
• Problem of creative inflation
• new technologies often result in programmes that
  are better, not necessarily cheaper
• New technologies demand new workflows and force
  people to change their ways of working

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HUMAN RESOURCES ???

• Now I know why business refers to people as
  human resources (not human assets) instead of
  being nurtured, I feel as if I have been used up
  and spat out by my employer
• In the airline industry, economy class passengers
  are called self-loading cargo

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ATTITUDES . . . .

• Production of TV and radio programmes is a
  creative process
• Production staff want to be treated as creative
  people not as workers in a factory
• some people feel that IT-based systems force them
  away from their core expertise
• some feel empowered by IT-based systems because
  they are less dependent on others
• People are different!
• if we want their full cooperation, we must treat
  them as INDIVIDUALS

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CAPITAL INVESTMENTS

• Some EBU Members do not have well-defined
  procedures for approval of capital investment
• new projects
• replacement of old equipment
• When purchasing new equipment, it is important to
  make financial provisions for its replacement
• cameras for newsgathering need to replaced
  frequently (e.g. 3 years)
• studio cameras have a lifetime of 7-10 years

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FAILURE TO INVEST

• In the event of a financial crisis, it is easy to
  defer replacement of equipment by 1 year
• But it is not sensible to defer replacements for
  several years in succession
• Some EBU Members have invested so little in
  replacement equipment that their whole
  infrastructure is now 15 years old as well as
  being unreliable and out-dated
• solving the problem is often too expensive!

As the life expectancy of DGs is about 2 years,
few of them are interested in long term projects!
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MANAGEMENT OF TECHNOLOGY

• Many EBU Members face huge uncertainties about
  their long-term role in the digital era
• Decisions about technology made by EBU Members
  can make or break their futures
• Despite this fact, some EBU Members have
  abolished the role of Technical Director or
  downgraded it so that the post-holder
• is not part of the senior management team
• no longer reports to the Director-General
• Take care that organisational changes do not
  contribute to expensive failures

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CONCLUSIONS

• EBU Members are generally not good at managing
  technology
• Using external suppliers can work well, but EBU
  Members must become educated purchasers
• New delivery platforms open up new opportunities
  for broadcasters and for gatekeepers
• IT-based production systems
• offer huge benefits in productivity
• can transform programme production
• BUT ambitious projects can go wrong

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AND FINALLY

• Georges Pompidou
• There are 3 roads to ruin
• women
• gambling
• technicians
• The most pleasant is with women
• The quickest is with gambling
• But the surest is with technicians