Broadcasters must take decisive action to stay relevant, ABU Technical Committee told

Broadcasters in the region face multiple challenges and need to take decisive action to remain relevant, the Chairman of the ABU Technical Committee, Mr Masakazu Iwaki, said today. 

He told the Committee that advancing technologies and the ease of providing content via public internet at reasonable costs had put traditional broadcasters in a very difficult situation.

“On top of that, the added competition from new entrants to the media industry utilising these alternate platforms is driving audience interests towards them.”

In addition to new media technologies like OTT and IBB systems, the industry was looking at rolling out advanced technologies including UHD 4K and 8K services as well as IP and AI technologies.

“All of these solutions are available for the digital environment, but the sad truth is that unfortunately most of our members are still struggling with the move from analogue to fully digital facilities,” Mr Iwaki said.

“This digital transformation is a must and is inevitable for our survival in the industry.”

He said that although some of these compelling technologies were still going through improvement cycles and may take some time till wider adoption, they could not be ignored and should be included in broadcasters’ future development strategies.