It’s difficult to imagine seeing someone you know amongst 55,000 people but at IBC it’s the order of the day (and it started at the airport before you'd boarded the plane...)


Arriving late on Thursday and getting ready for the start of the IBC exhibition on Friday surrounded by unpacked carpets and empty walk-ways there was an electric buzz in the air; will the stands be ready in time? No doubt for some Friday morning signalled the end of a hard night’s graft! But for me there was a friendly – and familiar face – already in the Partners’ Pavilion: SMPTE President Barbara Lange, who spoke passionately about SMPTE’s Centenary anniversary at this year’s JLB lecture.  


With 15 halls packing in 1,700 exhibitors you know you’ll be leaving IBC with a few blisters but your mind bubbling with new innovation and creativity pushing all of us forwards towards the future.  And what a future it will be. If you believe everything you see on TV then prepare for a shock, with HDR that red Lamborghini really will be displayed as it looks in real life for the first time (yes, most of what you see isn’t a true colour representation); accessing the content you want, when you want it – and the people behind the scenes working hard to protect that content; and audio you can adjust in your own home to give you a truly immersive sound. It’s all there waiting to make the transition from IBC to your front room and you can hear Dolby’s Sripal Mehta, Principal Architect, Broadcast and Roland Vlaicu, Vice President, Consumer Imaging speak about object based sound via Dolby Atmos and Dolby's VR vision. 


Whilst at IBC 16 myself and the Network’s Chairman, Graham Turner, sat down with major players in the multimedia space including Irdeto’s Andrew Wajs, CTO, who discussed the current content piracy landscape and content protection; and Nagravision's Christopher Schouten, Senior Director Product Marketing, about threat and opportunity in the paid TV arena, and the future of 4k delivery to the consumer. Listen to all of the interviews here. And let us know what you think!