Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s Digital Broadcasting Symposium returned as an in-person event after a two-year pandemic induced hiatus, and the who’s who of the digital world agreed there was nothing like face-to-face networking.

“Nothing can actually take the place of a good face-to-face conversation,” said ABU Secretary General Dr Javad Mottaghi, in his opening address to the 2023 Digital Broadcasting Symposium in Kuala Lumpur.

Dr Javad Mottaghi, Secretary-General Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union

“There have been many lessons learned from the pandemic, and the whole broadcast media has gone through an evolutionary change.”

“It is imperative that we, especially public service media explore these changes and adopt a more digital and social centric approach taking advantage of the convergence of technologies and reposition themselves to match current industry trends and audience demand.”

Evidenced by the theme “Back in Business” and from the buzz around #DBS2023, it was clear even those who provide digital solutions were happy to be have a physical presence at ABU’s premier symposium which covers radio, television and OTT streaming services with a major focus on new broadcast technologies.

The overarching theme of #DBS2023 was a focus on sustainability and serving diverse community needs.

In his official opening comments Malaysia’s Minister of Communication and Digital, YB Ahmad Fahmi Bin Mohamed Fadzil, echoed the importance of broadcast media and new technologies in the rapidly shifting digital landscape.

“It is about helping the public come to terms, whether its with catastrophe, disaster, epidemics, pandemics, crises; but also to shed a light and provide a space for what we need more than ever before – moral leadership.”

“Media and public broadcasters play a more than disproportionate role because it is the go to choice, especially when it comes to free to air, for the general public.”

The Minister said that one of the biggest challenges for the broadcast media, especially coming out of the pandemic, was to ensure “that those who appears to have been left behind, not in the least in terms of the economy, of education, are not disadvantaged.”

“Many media organisations may face evisceration because of the need for advertising revenue.”

“It is my responsibility to ensure that we have a vibrant free press so the ecosystem is preserved, not cannibalised beyond recognition, for the greater good.”

The opening session, focused on industry development and standards updates, was led by Emily Dubs, Head of Technology, DVB Project.

She outlined the future challenges of developing a converged media delivery ecosystem using IP centric solutions in Malaysia and ASEAN countries.

“We need to tackle that migration to IP based platforms to build converged 5G/IP/broadcast ecosystems,” she said. “DVB-I will be a crucial addition to enable the convergence of networks.”

“There is a new wave of opportunities to offer alternatives to congested networks as we move from unicast to multicast, alongside potential complementarity with 5G in the future.”

“New business models have potential for huge changes in transport, remote education, health care and tele-medical.”

ATSC President Madeleine Noland

Madeleine Noland, President of the ATSC, followed with an update of ATSC 3.0, which is the next generation terrestrial broadcast system adopted in the US, and has already been launched in projects across India, Jamaica and Brazil.

Addressing the issue of congestion, she said: “We need to have an orchestration layer that allows data to flow; its about getting any data to any device.”

Not only is the plan to deliver enhance audio, interactive content and advanced emergency messaging, ATSC are also working on distance learning and automotive applications

”Broadcasting has a key role in a data hungry world. HPHT is really, really valuable in broadcasting as it fills up holes in networks of networks.”

“It’s an opportunity to make a difference to sustainability by using infrastructure that we already have; we need to understand just how valuable the high tower is.”

Lindsay Cornell, Principal Systems Architect at BBC Digital delivered an update on DAB+, saying for broadcasters this technology offers multiple opportunities to innovate, allowing more operators to be present in the same spectrum.

“By running the same content through all the outlets, revenue increased far more than operation costs.”

“Opportunities aren’t all about increasing revenue; DAB is the most energy efficient of all the means of delivering digital content.”