IPTV at the conference

The IBC 2009 conference features a number of sessions that touch on IPTV – from the need for standardisation to the business case for distribution to multiple devices.

This year’s IBC conference will include a number of sessions that touch on IPTV directly, or focus on areas closely tangential to it, such as online TV and the distribution of video to multiple devices.
To start with, this year’s IBC keynote address will be delivered by Erik Huggers, director of future media and technology at the BBC, a public broadcaster that has been at the forefront of delivering on-demand TV over the internet with the BBC iPlayer, and is now attempting to push the use of broadband  to deliver on-demand services to the TV via the proposed Canvas platform.

Specifically IPTV-focused sessions at this year’s conference include two sessions  on standards (Is standardisation the key for IPTV? The questions and Is standardisation the key for IPTV? The answers) on Thursday September 10, at 12.15-13.15 and 14.15-15.15 respectively.  Chaired by William Cooper of Informitv, the former includes contributions from Mitchell Berman, currently CEO and co-founder of Zillion TV, Monika Gadhammar, chair of the Open IPTV Forum marketing group, and Peter MacAvock, programme manager at the EBU.  Gadhammar will go on to chair the second session. Speakers include Paul Berriman, chief technology officer of PCCW in Hong Kong, Yun Chao, chairman of the Open IPTV Forum, Klaus Illgner, managing director of the Institut Für Rundfunktechnik, the EBU’s MacAvock, Paul Szucs, the Open IPTV Forum Solution working group chair, and Miguel Alvarez, head of strategic planning and evolving IPTV technology for Telefónica.

Friday September 11 sees a session on The newest developments in IPTV from 09.00-10.30. Chaired by Dietrich Westerkamp, director of standards coordination at Thomson in Germany, the session will comprise an eclectic mix of presentations that address the latest applications and other new developments in IPTV.
Over-the-top delivery of online TV is seen as an important topic in its own right, and the place within that of user-generated content is the subject of much debate. IBC will include a session on Harnessing UGC from 15.30-17.00 chaired by journalist Gary Smith with contributions from Gilles Babinet, CEO of Eyeka in France, Hugh Garry, senior interactive producer for creative projects, BBC Audio & Music, and Martin Rogard, content director of user-generated video portal DailyMotion.

MPEG IF masterclass

Various IPTV issues will be discussed in two MPEG Industry Forum masterclass streams on September 14, produced with the University of St Petersburg. Co-chaired by Sebastian Moeritz, president of the MPEG IF and David Price, vice-president of marketing at Harmonic, the sessions will cover topics including the evolution of digital media standards, success factors for hybrid services and the repurposing of content for viewing on multiple devices. The first session, from 13.30-14.55, will feature Kevin Baughan, director of technical strategy at Virgin Media, Dieter Engel, product development media services at Deutsche Telekom, Manuel Gutierrez, CEO and president of TDVision Systems, Matthew Huntingdon of Open TV and Jeff McSchooler, vice-president of engineering at EchoStar. The second session, from 15.15-17.30, will feature Ross Biggam, director general of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe, Stuart Collingwood, vice-president EMEA of Sling Media, Konstantin Glasman, head of the video systems department at St Petersburg State University of Film and Television, Casey Harwood, senior vice-president, Turner Europe, Mark Krivosheev, chief scientist at the State Radio Research and Developmenet Institute of Russia, Kaliu Kukk, deputy general director of Russian group Telecom, Robert Luff, executive vice-president and chief engineering officer of Nielsen, Alexander Umbitaliev, director of Russia’s Television Research Institute and Robin Wilson, vice-president of business development at Nagravision in the US.