With the accelerated video consumption and the increased number of platforms and devices to consume this video, the competition to gain the attention of the audience, viewers and prosumers is strong. But, without a doubt, there is a content that is gaining more and more followers, the historical programs of television.
There is a growing interest of the audience to know the contents, stories and ways of narrating television in the decades of the 50s, 60s, 70s and later. That interest has become a necessity for the media, especially the public and state media, who are concerned about the protection of the historical archive, both sound and audiovisual, which in many countries is protected by laws.
According to estimates from the Archival Network, which brings together representatives from 14 countries, in Latin America there are about 80 million hours of audio and video on tape that are the historical and documentary audiovisual heritage and are at risk due to the natural deterioration of the tapes and that the reproduction machines of the old formats ceased to be manufactured, making them a hard treasure to come by. And not to mention the spare parts.
Therefore, the digitization of this material is an urgent task and more in Latin America, where only Mexico, Colombia, Brazil have advanced in this process, but it is estimated that it does not go beyond 10% of all the sound and audiovisual material of the state media.
The most important thing when it comes to digitizing, in addition to protecting historical material, is that it is available for the public to consume and enjoy.
