The questions proposed to the interviewees were the following:
1. What do you think the future will look like in the tv industry after NAB 2001?
2. Do you think nab reached this future in its last edition?
Jerry Johnson, President of Microdolly Hollywood commented on the future of broadcast television: "I believe that the potential of the broadcast television industry in the future is still to be fully developed. For some years now, both government leaders and manufacturers have told us that the future will be completely digital. Very slowly, this process is taking place. There is hope. However, there is still a lot of confusion and little consensus about how the step will be taken.
On the government side, most countries still don't seem to agree on schedules or systems, or even in the United States. If we assume that the broadcast concept includes pouring signal on the Internet, this is particularly true in the field of infrastructure. That is, for the field of terrestrial cable operators, telecommunications companies and wireless systems. It is enough that one tries to enter the "wireless" to see the entanglement that is that. Sometimes it seems that the people who formulate the laws and regulations don't spend much time talking to the people on free-to-air television to see what is needed.
On the side of manufacturers, the war for the digital format is still red hot. In reality, the only thing on which there is consensus is that "it will be digital". Whether in the area of acquisition, post-production, distribution or transmission, one must choose the equipment very carefully. Eventually, the analog world became homogenized enough to work together. Not so many years ago, one manufacturer's equipment didn't "talk" to another's. Today, incompatible software is added to digital hardware. For someone who must make decisions today about which equipment to buy, the only safe route seems to be to use as few manufacturers as possible to ensure compatibility. All of the above to mention the obvious. My grandfather once told me an old Irish saying: "Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday and, look, we are still alive."
That would sum up the state of the broadcast television industry today."
Anthony Smith, Director of Marketing and Communications for the DVB Project, had this to say about the debate and the state of decisions about digital television systems: "The future for DVB and the future for anyone who is implementing DVB services is good. There is room to grow. The system is future-proof and no one has gone bankrupt using DVB technology. NAB did not show the future but the past. HDTV was launched in Europe and failed first, but the first thing is for the United States to understand that its country is not the world leader in digital television. The rest of the world is! The future is in their hands and they are about to lose it! I don't think NAB has reached the future. The future is DVB."
Adriano Bedoya, Sales Manager for Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean of Canon's Broadcasting Equipment Division, proposed a new industry like this: "I think the future is no longer the television industry per se. We must talk about the multifaceted industry of joint computing and entertainment. The evolution and adoption of mass media for the transmission of data and images has forever revolutionized social coexistence. The diversity of information and entertainment options have transformed the television industry into a new and portentous industry: The TEVERIA industry.
What does it mean? Telecommunication, Video, Entertainment, Reportage, Computing and Access. It is precisely at this point, that of Access, that the television industry ends and the TEVERIA industry is imposed. Note, that AT&T, Liberty Media, AOL Time Warner, World Com, Sprint, Telmex, Telefonica and Embratel can greatly influence the television landscape into the future.
About NAB and that future, no, it still doesn't reach it. However, the mere fact that we meditate on it and consider it possible in the short term, is very relevant, especially for companies involved in hardware manufacturing, as technological advances in the area of wireless transmission and superconductivity create huge areas of question in terms of the future viability or long-term permanence of a transmission or communication standard. The scientific developments of the XXI century will be more linked to the area of software and the area of research in materials and their properties. Miniaturization is inevitable, as is ironically the breakneck growth of the TEVERIA industry."
David Stevens, VP of Glidecam Industries, a renowned manufacturer of camera stabilization systems, said the following about the future of this industry, concentrating his appreciation on the production of high definition video: "The shift to high definition will mark the television market in the near future. Higher quality television images can be produced without the cost of filming in cinema, and this will also allow many lighter cameras to be used. I believe that lighter high-definition cameras will increase the use of moving planes mounted on systems such as Glidecam and other stabilizers. I think the fair most likely did a great job of showing us the uses of the future."
Mr. Fran McGrath, VP of Marketing at Aspen Electronics, a manufacturer of batteries and power systems for cameras and lighting, said: "I think the trend will be a growing business in the next four or five quarters. I think NAB covers everything a trade show can cover; however, there are limitations as to what people can see when they "navigate" a convention. It's not like on the Internet: they have to walk."
Steve Krant, VP of Sales at Sundance Digital, Inc., responded with the following words: "We are seeing a trend in the United States and Canada toward centralizing broadcast operations, similar to the systems led by Seattle-based Ackerly media group. Sundance Digital has installed its automation systems at three of its core sites for Digital CentralCasting operations, so far. There was a strong show of interest, from other station groups during NAB, in consolidating their operations in a similar way to reduce costs, increase efficiency and have a more consistent appearance on the air. Sundance Digital was a great success during NAB because we are known to be experts in this matter of growing interest."
And finally, Carlos Congote, President of Congo Films Americas, suggests returning to the cultural aspects that demand a look at the quality of the contents: "The NAB event is a sample of the dimension of the industry. An industry that is constantly growing. There is very little doubt about its future, but there are many about the quality of this industry in its development. It would be nice to see that cultural growth was on par with technological growth, at a historical moment when the gap between the two is opening more. We will not reach the future no matter how much development is. The one we have to reach is the past, to see if we can understand each other in the fleeting present."
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