RTS Convention: “The prize for standing still simply isn't an option”

IBC

AI was largely sidelined at the annual RTS gathering where the fate of public service media took precedence

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Consolidation of UK TV seems increasingly inevitable even if, equally inevitably, each broadcaster vows to keep calm and carry on.

At the Royal Television Society’s annual convention in London there was unanimous agreement that change was unstoppable but differences of opinion about the extent.

“The prize for standing still simply isn't an option,” said Jane Turton OBE, RTS Chair and Deputy CEO, Banijay Entertainment. “The stakes are high.”

Describing the “unprecedented pace and scale of change” Sophie Jones, CEO, RTS talked of “a pivotal, seismic moment unlike anything we have encountered before.”

Since the RTS last gathered in Cambridge a year ago, the BBC has a new Director General, Channel 4 and ITV have installed new CEOs and there’s a new President at Five.

The lawyers and financiers have been busy too. Internationally, Paramount's planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney's full acquisition of Hulu and Fox’s pending £16.5bn acquisition of Roku are signs that scale

At home, All3Media’s £6bn merger with Banijay will create the world’s largest independent production company (though ‘indie’ seems an inappropriate badge for a group of this scale); Sky is buying ITV’s media and entertainment business for £1.6bn; and Channel 4, the most vulnerable of the main UK broadcasters, is setting up its own production division to fend off attack.

The BBC faces most scrutiny. With licence fee income fallen by approximately £1.3bn over the past decade, equivalent to 25% of its funding and with Charter settlement uncertain, it is making significant cuts to news, sports and media technology.

“We are having to make half a billion pounds of savings and we don't yet know what our future [financial agreement] will be,” said DG Matt Brittin. “The way the BBC is currently funded by the licence fee is a busted flush. We need a new mechanism if we're going to have the sort of scale of public service media that we've had in the past.”

The former Google Europe boss called for a more open approach to partnerships, arguing that the BBC should be present wherever audiences consume media, from YouTube to Spotify and TikTok.

“We're trying to reinvent our apps at some speed. iPlayer was incredible when it launched; it's way off the technology today. That’s no fault of the people working on it but we have to invest in that so we can fulfil our mission in better exposing audiences to this incredible content.”

Channel 4 future

Discussions are underway with Channel 4 about distributing its programming on iPlayer, provided a way is found for the commercial broadcaster to generate ad-revenues. The pressure is on both PSBs to merge completely, something that CEO Priya Dogra ruled out.

“I don't want Channel 4 to be taken over by the BBC,” she said. “Consolidation often leads to less choice whereas collaboration can increase choice because it allows organisations with complementary strengths to work together.”

Wayne Garvie, a former BBC head of entertainment, now President, International Production, Sony Pictures Television thought the writing was on the wall.

“If Channel 4 became part of a wider public service broadcasting structure there could be benefits,” he said. “As things stand, Channel 4 has a challenge around identity and long-term sustainability. Frankly, it's difficult to see how Channel 4 survives indefinitely in its current form. That's not their fault. The market is changing around them every week.”

He was more positive about the BBC’s chances. “It's got a brilliant new leader who is clearly not afraid to make difficult decisions. Obviously, the BBC won't be able to do all the things it used to do, because audiences have changed. PSBs can no longer rely on the linear schedule in the way they once did. But let's be positive about the future.”

Mega-merger of UK PSB

Acknowledging that PSBs still produce world class shows, Heather Jones, Chief Creative Officer EMEA and General Manager UK, Hearst Networks said content alone was not enough.

“You also need a fantastic [streaming] product and you need to understand discoverability and marketing,” she said. “The businesses that are furthest ahead across all three areas are the streamers and Sky because they've nailed each of those elements in a way that perhaps public service broadcasters have not.”

Calling the BBC “Europe’s university of media” and saying “no-one else would have commissioned Peaky Blinders”, writer, director and executive producer Steven Knight advised the BBC to sell TV licences in the US.

“Anyone in America who wants to get unbiased news, for example, then buy a licence for iPlayer. It’s only [the cost of] a subscription. I understand the BBC is not allowed to make a profit so all revenues should be returned into programmes.”

Jeremy Clarkson was prepared to go further than anyone by contemplating a full scale merger of all UK broadcasters, Sky included.

“If we had one great big broadcaster, let's call it ‘Britflix’, perhaps everyone could come together and make fewer programmes, but make them bigger, better and properly funded,” he said.

Clarkson added that he would ringfence news and have that paid for by the licence fee.

“The biggest problem with social media is accuracy and the tendency to mistake opinion for news,” he said. “Having said that, I think old media is suffering from the same problem to a dangerous degree. Opinion increasingly being dressed up as news.”

Pressed as to why broadcasters are not discussing collective consolidation, Sky’s Chief Advertising and Content Officer and CEO, Sky Studios Cécile Frot-Coutaz said, “We have different business models and shareholding structures.”

The sector had collaborated more in recent years, she said, adding that UK broadcaster competition is no longer with each other but YouTube and streamers.

Yet she doubled down on Sky’s “advantage” as a platform for PSB content. The Comcast-owned business is in the process of buying ITV channels and committed to maintaining news as a public service.

“The goal of our transformation is to create a business model with more revenue streams that is sustainable to scale content. We know that content is super important but so is the technology that goes with it since as a viewer that effects your ability to engage with a platform,” she said. “Bringing an ad-funded broadcaster with ad-funded streaming and subscription TV will create scale.”

“Focus on what you do well”

Richard Halton, Country Manager, Roku UK said he believed the global industry will wind up with just a handful of major TV operating-system platforms.

“That means a platform has to be incredibly respectful of the consumer, who simply wants to find something to watch quickly and of content partners, who need revenue, data and proper brand credit for the programmes they've invested in and produced. Platform businesses that understand both sides of that equation are the ones that will succeed.”

As BBC head of strategy Halton was responsible for the BBC’s first YouTube deal in 2006 and saw how online platforms would become more important in how audiences choose what to watch.

“Audiences now sit at both ends of the spectrum,” he said. “At one end, you've got niche FAST channels serving highly specific interests. At the other, you've got major shared experiences like the World Cup, where broadcasters come together to create huge moments for mass audiences. Platforms need to support both with tailored search, recommendations and discovery.”

What's remarkable about the UK content economy isn't just its ability to create new shows, he added, it's also the depth of its archive and IP built over decades.

“One of the most profitable streaming services globally is Crunchyroll, which proves the value of truly understanding a specific audience and serving it exceptionally well.

“That may be the future for many broadcasters,” he said. “Rather than trying to be everything to everyone, focus on what you do uniquely well.

“The BBC's specialist expertise remains among the best in the world, and that's a strength it should continue to build on.”

Clarkson: Event TV has to go big

Clarkson was sharing the stage with his daughter, Em Clarkson, who has built her own media career online including with the chart-topping podcast ‘Should I Delete That’.

Taking note of the rise of creator-led content the veteran broadcaster believed that TV should go big or go home.

Ever since I started in television the argument has always been the same,” he said. “We need to make fewer programmes, but make them bigger and better. The problem is there was never really any urgency to do that.

“We've all carried on making lots of programmes because it's very difficult to stop. At some point, you've got to put money in the attic, as it were. You've got to keep the machine running. But I think we're now reaching a point where it has become imperative.

“Cinema is struggling and will increasingly become more like theatre - a premium experience rather than a mass one.

“Meanwhile, there's a huge wave of creator-led content coming up from underneath. And because of that, I genuinely believe television has to become bigger.

“It has to do fewer things, but do them on a much grander scale.”

He said that current discussions with Amazon Prime about a successor to Clarkson's Farm “will have to be bigger and ambitious enough to stand out against everything else that's competing for attention.

“We've always had event television, but there's far less of it than there used to be. I think television now has to lean back into that.”

The rise of sports social

Gary Neville, former right-back and co-founder of soccer content creators The Overlap, rejected suggestions that broadcasters should attempt to compete directly with creator-led formats.

"What I don't understand is why people think the BBC, ITV or Sky should be competing directly with something like The Overlap," he said, in a session devoted to the differences between legacy and social media’s ability to reach sports fans. "They can never be the same thing."

The appeal of independent digital formats, he argued, lies in their freedom. Conversations can be closer to the way fans discuss football in pubs.

"On The Overlap, I can swear, I can be more relaxed and I can take conversations into places that fans would naturally take them," he said. "Broadcasters can't do that. They operate under Ofcom rules."

Traditional broadcasters and creator-led platforms serve different audience needs, he said, even when discussing the same stories.

“When myself, Roy [Keane] or Ian [Wright] appear on TV we might say the same thing we’ve said on our programme but we say it in a different way.”

Built around flagship formats such as The Fan Debate and Stick to Football, his business is preparing to launch a daily football news podcast in response to growing audience demand.

"When Ruben Amorim was sacked at 11 o'clock on a Monday, we didn't have a programme for ten days," Neville said. "We looked at that and thought: that's not right."

The same challenge emerged during developments surrounding Manchester City's 115 charges, where major news broke days before The Overlap was due to air.

"People don't want to wait six days for analysis anymore," he said. "They don't even want to wait six hours.”

Signals to watch

The panel discussed which signal, of all the data collected about audience viewing habits, was the one they valued most. For Neville, this was audience sentiment. “A couple of hours after a programme goes out, I'll read the first 20 or 30 comments from people who've watched it. That gives me a feel for what people actually think.

“Sometimes they're critical. Sometimes they're harsh. That's fine. What people are genuinely thinking about your content is still the most important thing.”

Alex Kay-Jelski, Director, BBC Sport looks toward completion rate. “If you've made a 60-second video, are people watching all 60 seconds? If you've made a 60-minute documentary and everyone switches off after 10 minutes, then you probably haven't made a very good documentary.

“People can sit there and say, ‘We had 10 million people visit the live page.’ But if the live page was rubbish, then all you've done is show 10 million people something rubbish. That's not good for your brand.”

For Nikki Doucet, CEO, Women's Super League it starts with the product itself.

“If people care about what's happening on the pitch, they'll want to watch. They'll consume more content. Everything else follows from creating a competition that fans genuinely care about.”

The advice of Fiona Wood, Strategy Director, of All3Media’s Little Dot Studios was to focus on engagement.

“Don’t obsess over follower counts. Subscribers and followers are increasingly vanity metrics. You don't have to follow a channel anymore to be served its content. The algorithm has completely changed that dynamic. You can overlook a lot of important moments if you're only focused on total views. Engagement shows you where niche communities are forming and where audiences are genuinely connecting with content."

 

BBC must be an 'antidote to the algorithm', says BBC boss Matt Brittin

Streaming Media

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The BBC faces a "moment of real jeopardy" as it navigates unprecedented technological, financial and societal change, according to Director General Matt Brittin.

Speaking at the RTS London Convention, Brittin argued that while the BBC remains one of the world's most trusted media institutions, the broadcaster must adapt rapidly to a media landscape defined by infinite choice, AI and declining trust.

“Half a billion people turn to the BBC every week," he said. "Seventy-five per cent of them are in countries with low levels of press freedom. Trust is all we've got.”

The former Google executive, who spent a decade leading the company's European operations before taking the BBC's top job, acknowledged the scale of the challenge facing both the Corporation and the wider industry.

"There is infinite choice and scarce trust," he said. "Everyone now has the ability to create content at a standard that would have required a Hollywood studio only a few years ago.

“We are polarising as a society. People feel disconnected and that's very problematic both geopolitically and domestically in the UK. PSBs have the opportunity to address some of that, to bring people together, to show us who we are and to show the world is our family.”

Alongside national moments such as Planet Earth, major sporting events and state occasions, Brittin highlighted local journalism, children's programming and trusted news as services that are increasingly difficult for commercial markets alone to sustain.

"If we reinvented public service broadcasting today, what would we do?" he asked. "One of the questions is: what is it that only the BBC should be doing?"

At the same time, Brittin suggested the Corporation must embrace new forms of distribution and rethink how audiences discover content.

He called for a more open approach to partnerships, arguing that the BBC should be present wherever audiences consume media, from YouTube and TikTok to emerging digital platforms.

“BBC News is a disinfectant for misinformation. We should be everywhere people are getting their news. If we're funded by the public, we should be available wherever the public is."

The BBC is facing significant internal pressures, including plans to deliver around £500m ($583m) of savings. BBC licence fee income has fallen by approximately £1.3 billion ($1.7bn) over the past decade in real terms, equivalent to around a quarter of the broadcaster's funding. About 60% of that decline stems from licence fee freezes, with the remaining 40% attributable to fewer households paying the licence fee.

Those pressures have already resulted in a series of cost-saving measures, including £80 million ($93m) of savings to BBC Media Tech, the division that powers the UK broadcaster’s online services like iPlayer. 

"We wouldn't guarantee any programme, channel or service can exist forever," he said. "The financial situation means we're having to look at some of those decisions a bit sooner than we might like.”

Uncertainty hangs over the next Charter settlement, the pact with the state that has seen public service broadcasters in the UK financed by a mandatory licence fee since 1946.

As part of that funding, PSBs must deliver certain types of programming, such as education, and reach all UK audiences. The current Charter fund expires at the end of 2027.

“We are having to make half a billion pounds of savings and we don't yet know what our future [financial agreement] will be,” he said. “The way the BBC is currently funded by the licence fee is a busted flush. We need a new mechanism if we're going to have the sort of scale of Public Service media that we've had in the past.”

This appears to include ending support for digital terrestrial coverage – and by extension the infrastructure provider Arqiva - in 2034 to concentrate on a streaming-only BBC service.

“If you look at on-demand consumption versus live broadcast the balance is starting to get to the point where you have to ask is [DTT] the best way to spend the licence fee.”

Among his strongest messages was the need for the BBC to differentiate itself from commercially driven platforms.

"I'd like us to be the place where the algorithm works for you," he said. "We're there to serve you."

Describing the BBC as an "antidote to the algorithm", Brittin argued that public service media can offer audiences recommendations driven by public value rather than commercial incentives.

“There's an opportunity to be a place where what we recommend is not driven by the commercial interests [of a streamer or social media platform] or their desire to get data that can help them send you the next toilet brush. That’s a great business model and [audiences] have got the choice, but I'd like the BBC to be the place where the algorithm works for you.  Someone comes to watch one thing, and we help them discover something they might never otherwise have encountered.”

However he appeared less confident of plans to promote BBC and other PSB content on the UI of YouTube and streamers which is being proposed by the government and has been opposed by digital platforms.

“It's a complicated issue because you can't simply dictate how platforms organise their services,” he said. “But there is a legitimate public policy question around how content that's funded in the public interest remains discoverable.”

He described the industry as being in an "AI take-off" moment.

"There's a danger that six tech companies will control access to information in the future, and the creation of information and misinformation,” he warned.#

Brittin even revealed he’d been “sent” a 50-minute episode of Doctor Who generated by AI. The long running BBC IP is currently on pause after a co-production deal with Disney was not renewed.

“It's pretty good,” he said of the AI-generated sci-fi, quickly adding, “I don't think anything we do should be replaced by AI but there are lots of places where AI can help us make the licence fee go further.”

Having wielded the axe to Media Tech the DG is still intent on reinventing iPlayer.

“We're trying to reinvent our apps at some speed. iPlayer was incredible when it launched; it's way off the technology today. That’s no fault of the people working on it but we have to invest in that so we can fulfil our mission in better exposing audiences to this incredible content.”

This strategy may well include folding Channel 4 content into iPlayer. Channel 4 is also a public service broadcaster but relies on relies on advertising for about 90% of its £1bn in revenue. Discussions are underway.

Channel 4 CEO Priya Dogra – also at the Conference – said, “The idea of a platform that showcases PSB content is something we should consider seriously. The question should be what makes sense for audiences and what serves the British public best?”

She highlighted the recently announced partnership with Paramount to represent Channel 5’s £300m-plus TV ad sales business.  Channel 4 will also be responsible for promotional slots with brands including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, but not for ad sales for Paramount+ or Pluto TV.

“I'm proud of that deal. It brings together complementary brands and audiences, solves problems for advertisers and gives all of us greater scale,” Dogra said.

She also ruled out a full scale merger with the BBC. “To me, consolidation often leads to less choice whereas collaboration can actually increase choice because it allows organisations with complementary strengths to work together.

“It's fair to say that I don't want Channel 4 to be taken over by the BBC.”

It is also fair to say that most people in the industry think this merger is inevitable.

HBS on the Ultimate: A more ambitious, story‑led athletics presentation

SVG Europe

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Host Broadcast Services (HBS) says the tech innovations and new presentation format behind World Athletics’ Ultimate Championship marks one of the most significant shifts in athletics broadcasting in years.

“The entire production has been rebuilt around storytelling, clarity and shared audience experience,” says Stefan Koch, senior director at HBS which is host broadcaster of the new event along with TATA Communications.

The programme has been built specifically with television and digital audiences in mind,  starting with a revamp of the traditional competition timetable. Instead, WA adopted a show‑script model, where every second is planned to ensure storylines are captured and no decisive moment is missed both for broadcast and fans in the stadia.

“In athletics, competition event presentation and TV are three parts of the show working together. Here, we’re running on one rundown. You more or less see and hear the same thing at home as you are in the stadium. This is unusual and requires a new level of coordination between event, presentation and broadcast. Normally each is separate and we try to optimise. Here we do it from the beginning.”

This proved very challenging, he admitted. “We are a super experienced team, but live is always challenging.”

The most important goal was to have audience attention focused on the main events, the critical moments in each discipline.

“We have made a very tight and detailed schedule,” he explained. “For example, how we can go to the three or four key jumps in long jump and show them live, so the whole stadium and the whole TV world is on trained on these athletes at this moment.”

Just one field event is contested at a time, whenever possible, to give each athlete the full attention of the audience. The Ultimate Championship in Budapest featured three sessions across three evenings, each lasting three hours. Each session featured both a horizontal and a vertical jump, a throwing event and track finals.

“Of course there will be surprises. We are ready for that as well. We have a lot of plan Bs and Cs. But the goal is to be on all decisions — all of these ‘aha!’ moments.”

Athletics has long struggled with fragmented attention in stadiums — fans often miss key field‑event moments happening simultaneously. Koch believes the new approach addresses that. The new virtual finish line visualisations for example will also appear on stadium IMAG screens.

“Now we try to be ready with the whole crowd in the stadium and at home so viewers and spectators know that this pole vault or this high jump is decisive.”

“That’s the big change we wanted,” he stressed. “To emotionalise not only the track events, but also the field events.”

In aid of this, the field of play is transformed by a dramatic black infield, with only the competition areas in use during the session lit up to literally put athletes in the spotlight.

The Ultimate format also introduces flash interviews conducted in the arena Wimbledon Centre Court‑style. There are planned TV breaks, every half hour for three minutes during which competition is paused.

“The idea is not just for commercials. The idea is that the rights holder can do their interviews, their analysis. They can plan: ‘Okay, I have three minutes to do my own story, to prepare my own athletes who are coming up soon.’ At the same time, they know they are not missing the main competition or decisive moments

“That’s the big aim. In our opinion, it would be a game changer for athletics.”

An updated graphics package includes augmented‑reality elements, athlete headshots, refreshed visual styling and new data points. Win probabilities and projected finishing positions are also being introduced, calculated using an algorithm weighted towards recent performances and updated live. Even small design changes — such as shifting the race clock to the bottom‑centre of the screen to improve vertical‑video usability — reflect the federation’s intent to optimise for modern viewing habits.

Audio, atmosphere and immersion

A bespoke sound identity will reflect the “vibe and energy” of the Ultimate brand, according to event marketing. Live acts will ensure that each session warm-up “will start with a bang” and get spectators in the right mood.

The Ultimate’s production is also experimenting with audio capture, aiming to bring viewers closer to the athletes’ physical effort. “Our goal is to one day hear the breath and steps of the athlete on track,” Koch said. “It’s not easy because they’re running on a rubber track, and you have a lot of spectator noise in the background.”

The team is testing filters, multiple mic placements and even optional athlete‑worn microphones.

“Some athletes might be ready to wear a microphone during competition. It’s all a project. They don’t have to, but some might give it a go.

Audio makes the difference between very good and exciting. It pulls you in. It goes right to your stomach. I believe audio is super important for this sport, and it’s not easy. But it’s easier if everybody is on the same audio instead of [the noise of the crowd] being split between one field event while the other half of the stadium is roaring to another event. That’s the focus.”

More than 20 major broadcasters — including BBC, NBCUniversal, NRK, SVT, L’Équipe, Polsat and TBS — carried the event live, supported by Infront as international media‑rights partner.

HBS and TATA also have a five-year global host broadcasting services deal covering World Athletics Series events that was in June 2025.

Reimagining the finish line

Intended as a biennial event, the Ultimate features is designed to appeal to younger demographics and TV audiences with a focus on fast-paced sessions and events determined to be popular among viewers. There are limited fields for individual events consisting of defending Olympic, world and Diamond League champions and entrants determined by the WA rankings.

The Ultimate offers the largest prize pot in track and field history, with $10 million up for grabs, including $150K for individual champions, and every participating athlete set to receive prize money. Instead of medals, athletes receive a unique participation token and Ultimate Champions will each earn a trophy.

Announcing the new format World Athletics President Sebastian Coe set the bar high: ““We have said from the very beginning that we are doing things differently with the Ultimate Championship. These innovations offer a taste of how we intend to move the sport forward with this brand-new global championship, elevating athletics and its many stars while reimagining how fans will experience the inaugural edition.”

 

Virtual Finish Line: How Sony and HBS built a new data‑driven view of sprint finishes

SVG Europe

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World Athletics’ new Virtual Finish Line (VFL) system made its debut last week, offering host broadcaster HBS a near‑real‑time 3D reconstruction of the final metres of sprint races. The project, developed by Sony’s Sports Entertainment Technology Development team, combines optical tracking, computer vision and rapid 3D rendering to give directors an additional visual option during live coverage.

At the heart of the system, shown exclusively to SVG Europe ahead of the event, a 26‑camera optical‑tracking array installed at gantry height around the track. Each PTZ unit is motorised, synchronised and network‑controlled, forming a continuous capture line around the stadium. “From those cameras, we capture the video, and we also capture the motion from video analysis. With this motion data, we create the visualisation,” explained Sony engineer Koshino Sota, who oversaw the camera deployment.

The cameras feed into a Sony OB hub, where captured video and motion vectors are aggregated and converted into 3DCG. HBS receives the generated graphics in its OB truck, where directors can choose to integrate the VFL output into replays or analysis sequences.

The system is designed to feel like having “1,000 cameras everywhere,” Sota said — giving directors multiple angles and perspectives that would be impossible to achieve with physical cameras alone.

A new workflow for track and field

Hiro Hattori, General Manager of Technology for Sony’s Sports Entertainment Technology Development team, described the R&D project as a departure from traditional athletics coverage.

“This is a brand‑new approach for track and field. So that’s why my R&D team is involved,” he said. “The focus is on finish‑line reconstruction of sprint races, where margins are smallest and outcomes are decided in milliseconds. We want to create 3D visualisation footage for broadcasting, to help fans understand all of the drama.

“Our system captures every motion on the track, mainly around the finish area. Soon after capturing such motion live, we generate the 3D visualisation for the broadcasting system.”

Development and technical challenges

The proof of concept premiered in Budapest is the result of 18 months R&D and further discussions with World Athletics during the Tokyo Championships last September. Additional behind closed doors tests were then made in Japan. Sony already had experience with optical capture for football officiating, but adapting it to track required new engineering.

“We had two main challenges,” Hattori explained. “We needed to capture data with absolute precision. Even if the difference of distance [between athletes] is very, very small, it matters.”

The second challenge was to process the VFL output quickly enough to be made available like a replay.  “If we create this kind of footage one day after the event there is no value. But there is tremendous value if we can compress the workflow,” he said.

“Our motion capture is almost live. Within one second we can capture the motion data. After that we integrate the official timing data from Seiko and then create the visualisation.”

Currently this takes less than 30 seconds and the aim is to reduce that further.

The graphic visualisation workflow was developed jointly with HBS. “This part was mainly based on discussions with HBS, because they are professionals of sports broadcasting and also of fan engagement,” Hattori said.

Stefan Koch, senior director at HBS, described the process as a genuine co‑development effort with Sony and World Athletics. “It’s definitely a joint venture,” he said. “We sat together before World Championships Tokyo and asked what could we do, or what would make sense? And then we came together to this idea.”

For Koch, the appeal of the VFL was simply that the finish is the defining moment of a race, yet traditionally one of the hardest to show clearly.

“The winner of the 100m is the athlete whose chest cross the line first. That is the rule.  If you think about it, this actually means a virtual wall. Now, for the first time, we can actually show this virtual wall in reality,” he said. “What is the most important moment on track? It is that moment. Now we visualise that.”

Koch sees it as a way to give viewers a clearer, more intuitive understanding of what happened. “This is a visualisation, a new ‘aha’ moment. Seeing this, fans can understand the result and the performance so much better. If it’s a tight finish, we will always show the official Photo Finish because you want to see what the judges saw.”

HBS worked with Sony to define the angles and replay patterns directors could use. Two main options emerged: a single camera move from front to diagonal to top, or a sequence of three angles showing the finish from different perspectives. Koch said the choice depends on the race format: “In the semi‑finals, the single camera move works best because we have four [qualifying] athletes to cover. For the Ultimate Champion — the visualisation could work better by showing just their performance from three angles because it’s always about who wins.”

Camera control and presets

The camera array is fully remote‑controlled. “Each one has a motorised head, so we can control it from our video village,” Sota explained. Sony prepared multiple preset angle patterns — multi‑camera sweeps or single‑camera arcs — which HBS directors can select per race.

“We show the director a couple of examples - shorter versions, long versions, multi‑camera and single‑camera. Then they pick, for every race, what they want for the broadcast. It gives them a lot of flexibility.”

However the number of cameras trained on the athletes is less important than their angle. Most of the cameras in Budapest were positioned towards the finish line, since this is the focus of the first application though in theory an entire circuit of a race could be tracked and data-captured for CG visualisation.

“It’s important for the cameras to have line of sight onto the athletes on the track,” Sota said.

It’s also not yet practical to create 3D visualisations of races like the 1500m where athletes will bunch together onto a single lane – partly because the data gathering of movement from individuals would be obscured, partly because the on-screen presentation could look confusing. In addition, many longer duration races tend to be more strung out with a clear winner so there’s less of a compelling case for 3D storytelling at the finish line.

The motion‑capture pipeline uses computer vision and AI, trained on general human movement rather than athletics‑specific datasets. 

“For this Championship, we are just showing one kind of visualisation. Soon— maybe after the next Ultimate Championship — we will add more. You can overlay more data. You can extract more data. It will expand to another discipline,” Hattori said.

Sony also hopes to migrate parts of the processing pipeline from GPU-powered workstations into the camera itself, creating a more compact edge‑processing platform.

The next staging post for the tech could be September 2027 when the World Athletics Championships returns to Beijing 12 years on from the city’s successful staging of athletics’ flagship event and almost two decades on from the Beijing Olympic Games.

Sony is an official global partner of the World Athletics Ultimate Championship and is also providing Hawk-Eye’s video replay service for officiating.

Media industry experiencing disruption, cost and uncertainty as AI takes hold

Cable Satellite International

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AI is reshaping the global media industry from the inside out but executives driving that change say the transition is proving more complex, more expensive, and more culturally disruptive than expected.

While AI might in the long run streamline costs out of the operation, right now the industry is in the investment stage and the rising cost tokenisation is becoming a board‑level issue.

Heavy-hitters from the EBU, JioStar, Nvidia, Crunchyroll and Sky joined the discussion at the IBC conference session Technology Fit for The New Era of Broadcasting and Media.

At Crunchyroll, where 21 million subscribers stream anime in 200 countries, SVP Engineering Samir Ahmed said AI is now central to search, discovery and personalisation. But the cost of running those models is escalating.

“When you’re surfacing content for millions of global subscribers, that’s a lot of tokens,” Ahmed said. “We’re continuing to invest, but we’re also looking at how to optimise and reuse components, modular architectures, automation — anything that helps us scale without costs running away.”

India’s JioStar — one of the world’s largest commercial media operations, producing 100,000 hours of content a year for 750 million consumers — is feeling the same pressure. CTO Rajat Nigam said tokenomics is now a strategic concern.

“AI can maybe take costs out of the business, but right now it feels like it’s adding more cost in the short term. We’re cautious in our approach because of the scale we operate at.”

Nigam said JioStar has already integrated OpenAI for content search across its vast catalogue — but the cost of running those models at population scale is significant.

“It’s a good initial way to start using AI,” he said. “But when you reach steady state, that’s where costs become a major factor.”

Sky’s Group Content Services Director Gabby Redfern echoed the sentiment.

“With any new capability, there’s a business case,” she said. “We’ve had to incorporate AI costs into that. It’s another element you have to consider.”

Broadcast engineering teams face a new skills crisis

If cost is one challenge, capability is another. NVIDIA’s Director of AI for Sports, Adtech and Media Jamie Allan said the next major shift in broadcast engineering is already underway — and it’s going to be difficult.

“Broadcast engineers had to learn IT when the industry moved from metal to software,” Allan said. “Now they need to understand how AI platforms and services work with enterprise IT. It’s another ‘change is hard’ moment.”

Allan said NVIDIA sees this across every major media organisation it works with.

“It’s a new skill set we’re all going to have to bring in,” he said. “But because we’ve been through a big transition recently, it should be mentally easier to accept.”

The challenge is not just learning new tools — it’s adapting to entirely new workflows. Allan described a future where production facilities are AI‑native, dynamically allocating compute, spinning up virtualised production environments, and automating tasks that once required large teams.

“You might just say: give me 10 cameras and 25 audio feeds,” he said. “The system will configure itself. That’s where we’re heading.”

Sky’s first experiments in accessibility and localisation delivered poor accuracy — around 30% but improved rapidly.

“Success depends as much on hearts and minds as on technology,” Redfern said. “You’ve got to bring teams in early. They want to work with the latest tools.

“AI evolves very quickly. Test, retest, keep playing. It gets better,” she urged.

Sovereignty, trust and cautious adoption

For public broadcasters, the AI transition is shaped by different pressures. Newly appointed EBU CTO Annsofi Eriksson said public service media must balance innovation with trust.

“The money in public service is trustworthiness,” she said. “We’re careful about that. It’s our competitive edge.”

Eriksson said PSBs cannot afford to ignore AI’s productivity benefits, especially in administrative and programming workflows, but must avoid undermining editorial integrity.

“We’re not that careful when trying AI tools in the rest of the operation,” she said. “We’re quite keen on that. But when it comes to news and presenters, trust comes first.”

She also highlighted sovereignty, cybersecurity and content prominence as major priorities and warned that generative AI introduces new risks.

“I haven’t met a single person at IBC who knows how to handle agentic cybersecurity yet,” she said. “There are ideas, but no one has solved it.”

A global industry in transition

Across the board it seems AI is no longer optional even if the transition is uneven.

Crunchyroll is using AI to deliver anime in 17 languages within an hour of broadcast in Japan. JioStar is using it to personalise content and advertising for three‑quarters of a billion viewers. Sky is using it to modernise accessibility workflows. NVIDIA is pushing the industry toward AI‑native infrastructure. And the EBU is preparing Europe’s public broadcasters for a future defined by sovereignty and shared cloud ecosystems.

They also agreed that the investment phase is far from over.

“We’re on the precipice of major change,” Allan said. “The returns will come but right now, we’re still building the foundations.”

How to manage the software lifecycle

IEC eTech 

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Software and AI systems become less secure with age. The issue is gaining increasing momentum with the IEC developing much needed standards.

As digital systems age, they become harder to secure, harder to maintain and increasingly vulnerable to exploitation. In sectors where outages or cyber attacks can threaten public safety, the question of how to retire software safely is now an issue of national resilience. While AI systems are much more recent than old software packages, the issue still must be dealt with as it could become a huge problem sooner than later. (For more on the decommissioning of AI Systems, read this interview in e-tech.) IEC and ISO have prepared standards dealing with both.

The scale of the problem is huge

A study published in November 2025 by WPI Strategy, commissioned by Cisco, highlights the scale of the problem across critical national infrastructure (CNI). According to WPI Strategy: “In 2020, nearly half of business network infrastructure globally was estimated to be obsolete or ageing, making it harder to patch, harder to secure, and easier to exploit.”

The report compares end‑of‑life (EOL) exposure across the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan. It found that the UK has the highest relative exposure to EOL systems. Japan exhibited the lowest exposure, reflecting sustained investment in lifecycle management. In the US, 80% of federal IT spend goes to maintaining existing systems.

Healthcare sector at risk from using outdated systems

Healthcare is one of the most exposed sectors. A 2025 report from one local trust within the UK’s National Health Service outlines the risks: “The network infrastructure… has become obsolete, lacking vendor support. This increases the risk of failure.” The report confirms that legacy issues affect electronic patient records (EPR) and the electronic prescribing and medicines administration (EPMA) as well as clinical decision support systems.

It warns that failure of certain EOL components could be “catastrophic” by impacting the whole of the organization. It is not without precedent. A 2024 cyber attack demonstrated how outdated systems amplify ransomware attacks, leading to cancelled surgeries and huge financial losses.

This case is emblematic of a broader trend. Institutions like hospitals often rely on outdated network hardware, unsupported operating systems and legacy applications that cannot easily be patched or upgraded.

Legacy problems for critical infrastructure

Legacy systems can put public infrastructure at risk. While grid systems increasingly rely on new AI models for processes such as load forecasting and predictive maintenance by ingesting vast amounts of telemetry from substations, sensors and grid assets, they also rely on legacy software systems. If these are not retired appropriately, they can play a part in producing inaccurate predictions that cascade into operational instability. They also can be easily hacked, especially if they are older systems that are not kept up to date with security patches and updates.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an enforcement alert in May 2024 urging water system operators to conduct cyber security risk assessments. Software systems do not simply expire. Instead, they become misaligned with new systems and data inputs. They may continue operating long after they become outdated or their performance degrades.

In hospitals, this could mean a triage model that once performed well begins making unsafe recommendations. In electricity networks, a forecasting model may become unreliable as consumption patterns shift.

Keeping the machine running

Retiring software isn’t a matter of deleting files or shutting down servers. It’s a question of preserving national capabilities whose functionality must endure long after the hardware they are operating on has been replaced.

Hardware ages quickly; software, at least conceptually, does not. But the two are inseparable. And in that tension lies one of the most pressing challenges for modern infrastructure. “Even though software designers try to reduce hardware dependency through abstractions, and standards help with that, there is always some dependency. Changing hardware often forces changes in software,” explains Sundeep Oberoi, Chair of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 7, the joint subcommittee between ISO and IEC responsible for software and systems engineering standards.

While hardware churns, software persists: servers are replaced every few years, networking technologies leapfrog one another, mobile phones are frequently discarded because they can’t support the latest operating system. “This is where technology debt accumulates,” Oberoi says. “Legacy systems, such as COBOL-based tax platforms for instance, continue to perform essential functions, but the ecosystems around them move on. Re‑architecting them becomes risky, expensive and unavoidable.”

The industry’s answer is evergreening: treating software renewal as a continuous process rather than a crisis-driven overhaul. “We’re nowhere near that ideal, but it’s the direction of travel,” Oberoi agrees. The hope is that AI will assist in evergreening by identifying dependencies, mapping impacts, and guiding change. “Conceptually, software has always had the ability to examine itself, self-replicate and change. This is inherent in the idea of a universal machine. AI sharpens those techniques and makes them much more powerful,” Oberoi adds.

But there are limits he acknowledges. “We’re nowhere close to the point where AI decides something needs to change - such as requiring a different processor - and can build that processor on its own,” he says. “Biological systems contain enough information to assemble themselves but AI systems do not. AI may help us realize what needs to be done. But the ecosystem still has to do it.”

Standards are essential for decommissioning both AI and software systems

International standards supported by rigorous lifecycle management, proactive investment and transparent governance are one of the ways of ensuring that critical infrastructure remains resilient, secure and trustworthy, as technology evolves.

ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 brings structure and consistency to the way organizations engineer and manage AI systems from concept through maintenance and evolution, including disposal. Recently published ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207 is to software what ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 is to AI systems and deals with retiring software rather than disposal. ISO/IEC 5338 describes the lifecycle of AI systems based on machine learning and heuristic systems. It is based on ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288 and ISO/IEC/IEEE 12207 with modifications and additions of AI-specific processes. These internationally recognized guidelines define clear decommissioning triggers which could be due to regulatory changes; replacement by a validated successor; end of business need; risk of cyber security exposure; and model drift.

Yet another standard, ISO/IEC 8183, defines explicit “data decommissioning” and “system decommissioning” of an AI systems’ stages to manage data and model artefacts responsibly.  This is essential in hospitals, where patient data must be retained for legal reasons but protected from exposure. ISO/IEC 42001 requires organizations to: “plan and manage the decommissioning of AI systems in a controlled manner… ensuring that data and model artefacts are disposed of appropriately.”

These documents define how engineered systems evolve from conception to retirement. But even they have limits. Oberoi explains, “SC 7 models systems only to the extent they can be represented as information. It doesn’t model the physics of a hard disk, only the way data is stored on it. As a result, the committee has not yet confronted the question of what to do with obsolete equipment - only how to preserve the information it contains.”

Of course, software is no longer the domain of large corporations with deep process expertise. It’s built everywhere into startups, micro-businesses and small development shops. That’s why SC 7 developed ISO/IEC 29110-7-1:2026 for Very Small Entities (VSEs). “Smaller entities don’t necessarily have the competence or resources that large organizations do,” Oberoi explains. The VSE work takes existing SC 7 standards for testing frameworks and lifecycle models and scales them down without diluting their intent.

Together, these standards give critical infrastructure operators a structured way to plan for end‑of‑life and manage AI drift, to retire systems safely and reduce cyber security exposure. Those charged with decommissioning software must leave a clear audit trail for how the system operated including its known limitations, the reasons for retirement plus evidence of safe disposal.

How standards are powering a second life for batteries

IEC eTECH

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The case for reusing batteries is more relevant than ever and the IEC is providing the framework to make it happen.

Batteries sit at the heart of the clean energy transition. They enable the electrification of transport, support the integration of renewable energy and underpin the digital systems that shape modern life. Yet the growing wave of batteries reaching the end of their first life poses a challenge in terms of their disposal and an opportunity as they can be given a second life.

The surge in electric vehicle (EV) deployment in particular means millions of batteries will soon reach the end of their automotive life. Yet these batteries retain substantial residual capacity and offer precious resources. As the International Energy Agency (IEA) notes, battery recycling has the potential to be a significant secondary source of supply of critical minerals that is more sustainable and less geographically concentrated than primary supply. But more than that, repurposing and reusing them offers a powerful opportunity to reduce waste, conserve resources and support the energy transition.

Without reuse or recycling, however, these batteries risk becoming a significant source of hazardous waste. IEC TC 21 is the IEC technical committee responsible for the standardization of all types of rechargeable cells and batteries. “Batteries at the end of their life can release toxic pollutants if not disposed of correctly, generally contribute to the problem of e‑waste if not reused, recycled or repurposed,” warns Thomas Dittrich, the Chair of IEC TC 21.

The environmental cost of battery production is already substantial. As outlined in e‑tech: Are batteries the weak link in a circular economy?, mining lithium, cobalt and nickel carries heavy environmental and social burdens. Manufacturing batteries is also energy‑intensive, with supply chains still heavily reliant on fossil fuels. These factors make the case for extending battery life even stronger: every additional year of use reduces pressure on mining, manufacturing and recycling systems.

Batteries can be repurposed for many uses

The market for second life batteries is expanding rapidly. According to recent analyses, the global market for these is projected to grow from USD 1,24 billion (bn) in 2025 to reach USD 8,93 bn by 2035. This growth is driven by rising EV adoption, increased reliance on renewable energy and regulatory frameworks encouraging circularity. 

Second life batteries are finding applications across a wide range of sectors. Their most common use is in stationary energy storage, where lower power demands and predictable cycling (for more on battery cycling read: What is battery cycling? Energy storage guide for 2026) make repurposed EV batteries ideal. Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia houses Europe’s largest second-life battery storage factory with up to 1 Gigawatt/hour (GWh) production capacity.

Some pundits have estimated that EV batteries alone could satisfy short-term grid storage demand by as early as 2030, creating a new value pool for the power sector. These second life batteries can be used to store excess solar and wind energy, provide backup power for hospitals and data centres and support microgrids in remote communities. They  can also help commercial and industrial facilities reduce peak demand charges, improving resilience and lowering energy costs.

Beyond stationary storage, second life batteries are increasingly used to support the EV charging infrastructure. The EV charging segment is expected to grow at a compound  annual growth rate (CAGR)  of 43,9%  until 2031, according to this 2024 report, driven by the need to buffer grid demand at fast‑charging stations. Repurposed batteries can store energy during off‑peak hours and release it during high demand periods, reducing strain on local grids and enabling charging hubs to operate in areas with limited grid capacity.

Commercial and industrial back-up power is another major growth area. Businesses are adopting repurposed batteries to enhance resilience, reduce reliance on diesel generators and support sustainability goals. Residential storage is also expanding quickly, with homeowners using second‑life batteries to store solar energy and provide backup power during outages.

Second life batteries are not limited to storage applications. They are increasingly used in automated guided vehicles (AGVs), street lighting, off‑grid systems, telecom base stations and portable power units. EVs with reduced performance needs such as golf carts and forklifts is another market for second-life batteries. These applications demonstrate the versatility of repurposed batteries and their potential to support a wide range of industries.

Challenges for second life batteries

Despite their promise, second life batteries face several challenges. Assessing battery health, for example, is not straightforward. Repurposers must evaluate metrics including internal resistance, capacity fade, thermal stability, mechanical integrity and battery management system compatibility.

This highlights the need for robust testing and certification. IECEE (IEC System of Conformity Assessment Schemes for Electrotechnical Equipment and Components) is one of the four conformity assessment systems administered by the IEC. It runs a scheme which tests the safety, performance, component interoperability, energy efficiency, electromagnetic compatibility and hazardous substance of batteries. Since used batteries come from different manufacturers and have different chemistries and form factors, integration into new systems can be tricky without harmonized standards.

Economic viability is another concern. Repurposing must be cost‑competitive against recycling or the purchase of new batteries. While commercial and industrial markets show strong promise, business models are still evolving. Nonetheless, the combination of regulatory pressure, technological advances and growing demand for affordable storage is creating favourable conditions for second life deployment.

IEC is leading the way on standards for reuse

The IEC has developed a comprehensive suite of standards addressing reuse, repurposing, safety and environmental performance. “One of the roles of TC 21 is to standardize second life aspects of batteries, including preparation for dismantling and recycling,” explains Dittrich.

The recently published IEC 63338 provides general guidance on the reuse and repurposing of secondary cells and batteries, covering safety risks associated with lithium‑ion and nickel systems, suitability assessment and manufacturer warnings, as well as sets out general requirements for repurposing secondary cells, modules, packs and systems. IEC 62933‑4‑4 addresses environmental requirements for battery‑based energy storage systems using reused batteries, while IEC 62933‑5‑3 specifies safety requirements for grid‑integrated energy storage systems.

“We also have worked on IEC TR 63330‑2, a technical report on the repurposing of secondary batteries,” Dittrich adds. “That work focuses on classifying batteries for second life applications and determining whether they are safe enough to be reused. The challenge is that you often don’t know what happened to a battery during its first life, so the group is developing non‑destructive methods to assess condition.”

Down the road, the TC is looking at developing another potential standard. “We are also planning a quality management standard for companies dismantling EV batteries down to module level and reassembling them for applications such as stationary energy storage. It is still at a preliminary work item stage. Before moving forward on this work, we need to expand our scope as it currently doesn’t include management systems,” Dittrich says.

IEC example of battery reuse on the ground

The IEC Impact Alliance is partnering with organizations which can help the IEC turn the value of the work it does in electrical, electronic and ICT standards and conformity assessment into tangible benefits for the communities who need them most. An example is the work with Differ Community Power (DCP), an international provider of solar energy services. The project in rural Kenya repurposes used electric car batteries to revive dead or dormant solar panels at local schools and health centres. This scalable project connects communities and reduces e-waste at the same time. It brings long-lasting benefits to everyone, empowering local people to maintain their solar systems by training them on best practices through the use of international standards and conformity assessment.

Enforcing digital transparency

Digital passports are a separate approach which could potentially give all the information required about the first life of a battery. The IEC and ISO have established a joint committee, ISO/IEC JTC 5, to develop the global framework for Digital Product Passports (DPPs). A DPP is a digital record that stores key information about a product’s origins, repairability, and recycling instructions. (Read more on this topic in the interview with IEC/ISO JTC 5 Chair.)In Europe, the EU Batteries Regulation (2023/1542) embeds circularity across the battery lifecycle and mandates Digital Battery Passports for EV and industrial batteries from 2027 onwards.

The Global Battery Alliance Battery Passport initiative complements this work, providing ESG benchmarks, carbon footprint methodologies and digital infrastructure for supply chain transparency.

“The DPP requires two things,” explains Dittrich. “First, an IT system capable of handling all the data: access rights, data storage, who can read or write what. The European Commission issued a standardization request for this and the European standardization organization CEN-CENELEC has now published five standards covering the IT architecture for DPPs across multiple sectors - not just batteries, but textiles, construction and more.

“Batteries are the first product category being used to test the concept. The second part is battery‑specific data. For that, there is no standardization request. The Commission has instead issued guidance documents describing the required data points for the battery passport. A key element of the passport is the state of health of the battery, which is essential for determining whether a battery can transition from first life to second life.”

Evolution of the technology

Technological advances are improving the feasibility of second life deployment. AI‑driven diagnostics enable faster and more accurate grading of used batteries. Modular pack designs simplify disassembly and repurposing. 

Advanced battery management systems improve safety and performance in second‑life applications. Hydrometallurgical and direct recycling methods are becoming more efficient, reducing the environmental impact of end‑of‑life processing. Hybrid energy systems combining batteries with hydrogen or thermal storage offer new pathways for resilience and sustainability.

Other IEC Technical Committees play important roles relating to battery standards. IEC TC 120, responsible for electrical energy storage systems, developed IEC 62933-5-4, which specifies safety test methods for lithium‑ion battery‑based systems. IEC TC 111, which focuses on environmental standardization, has issued IEC 63395, addressing sustainable e‑waste management and extended producer responsibility. The IEC Advisory Committee for Environmental Aspects (ACEA) monitors key environmental challenges, including material efficiency and e‑waste, ensuring that standardization keeps pace with emerging issues.

Second‑life batteries are poised to become a cornerstone of the circular economy. They extend battery life, reduce waste, support renewable energy and unlock new value pools across the power sector. Standards developed by IEC TC 21 and its subcommittee, SC 21A, provide the technical foundation for repurposing across global markets. They ensure that repurposed batteries meet stringent safety, performance, and environmental criteria, enabling manufacturers, integrators and operators to deploy second‑life systems with confidence.