Volume 47 No. 3 SEPTEMBER 2025
EVOLUTION OF TELEVISION 100 YEARS OF PROGRESS
INSIDE Television Centenary: Did Any Of Us End Up With Square Eyes?
n The SCTE’s own 80th birthday celebrations n Broadband Journal visits Technetix in Veenendaal n Review of SCTE ® Presents: Across The Pond in full n Interviews with CommScope, Teleste, IQGEO, SCCI Alphatrack, FTTH Council Europe and Stephen Nuttall of IBC n Plus: AI in Streaming, Mastering QoE, DOCSIS, PON, connecting those MDUs, new research on AI spending and much more
contents
VOLUME 47 NO. 3 - SEPTEMBER 2025
editorial Editor’s Letter Welcome to the September 2025 issue of Broadband Journal.
ISSN 1751-0791
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Thanks to our supporters The SCTE ® is grateful to the following supporters for their continued support of Broadband Journal: Amphenol, ANGA, Connected Britain, Technetix, Webro and Wisi.
from the scte SCTE News All the latest news and events from the SCTE.
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scte benelux news Benelux News All the latest news and events from the SCTE’s Benelux Group. scte balkans news SCTE Balkans Update from Besim Latifi, our Ambassador-At-Large
SCTE ® - The Society for Broadband Professionals
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Officers and Members of the Executive Committee President and Chair Dr Anthony Basham FSCTE Vice President Dave Hodges FSCTE Director Dr Roger Blakeway FSCTE Secretary Beverley Walker FIAM Members Laura Baskeyfield, Keith Bail, Melissa Cogavin, George Dyckes, Costas Kyriacou, Peter Sealey, Chris Swires and Peter Veerman
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scte long read Television is 100! What next for TV?
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scte member focus Alistair Crook, Vice President, Management Consultancy, Media, Cartesian
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scte presents Julian Clover, editor of Broadband TV News, recently reported on our very successful SCTE ® Presents: Across The Pond evnt in June. 26 history Television Demonstrations at Selfridges 24
SCTE ® Communications House, 41a Market Street, Watford, Hertfordshire WD18 0PN, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1923 815500
office@theSCTE.eu www.theSCTE.eu
from the industry Industry News The latest global news from the industry. Do We Need To Restrict AI’s Hunger For Data?
Managing Editor Melissa Cogavin Tel: +44 (0)7501 780342 melissa@theSCTE.eu
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42 Francesco Nonno, Newly elected FTTH Council Europe President speaks to Broadband Journal 46 Rewiring the Future of Telecoms: IQGeo Unplugged 50 A New Era for Satcom: The Rise Of Multi-Orbit Networks and Software-defined Ground Systems 54 TalkTalk’s Next Chapter: Strategic Break-Up or Strategic Retreat? 56 A New Approach to Fibre: An Interview with 4Fibre Operations Director at SCCI Alphatrack, Steve Chesterman 58 A Conversation with Stephen Nuttall, Chair, IBC 62 Simplified and Scalable Cable Management: The Future of Fibre Routing 70 Strategic Priorities in the AI Era: A Conversation with Buddy Bayer 74 My Passion for Telecommunications 76 How Google Tried to Solve Programmatic Advertising’s Dirty Secrets 80 Wired for the Future: CommScope’s Craig Coogan on Driving Cable and Fibre Innovation 84 Inside Teleste: Talking Tech, Trends & the Future with Hanno Narjus and Arttu Purmonen 88 From Veenendaal to Mexico City: A Conversation with Paul Broadhurst, Founder and CEO of Technetix Group 92 Harmonic Drives Broadband Transformation 98
Publisher Evolution Print & Design Ltd 143 Cavendish Road, Leicester LE2 7PJ, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 116 274 7700 sales@evolutiondc.co.uk
Broadband Journal is published on behalf of the SCTE ® (Society for Broadband Professionals) by Evolution Print and Design Ltd. Neither the editor nor the Society, as a body, is responsible for expression of opinion appearing in the journal unless otherwise stated. Papers and contributions for consideration for publication in Broadband or for reading at meetings are welcome and should be sent to Melissa Cogavin. Letters Broadband Journal is your forum for debate on issues affecting the industry. Let us have your news and views. Write to The Editor, c/o Communications House, marking your letter ‘for publication’ or email melissa@theSCTE.eu. For reasons of space, we reserve the right to edit letters published in Broadband .
© 2025 Broadband Journal Information in Broadband Journal may not be reproduced, changed or used without prior written permission from the SCTE ® .
technical Using AI to Assure the Viewer Experience for Streaming Video
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Redefining Broadcast Accessibility With AI-Powered Caption Quality Control
industry events ANGA COM 2026 19 to 21 May: Exhibitor Registration now open spotlight The Unseen Engine: The Hidden Role of PR in the Technology Industry by Xpresso Communications
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service finder
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diary dates
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SEPTEMBER 2025 Volume 47 No.3
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EDITORial
Editor’s Letter
partnerships in some cases that go back decades. We learned so much, a huge thanks to our speakers and sponsors for making it a very productive, valuable day – we have covered this in detail on page 26. Next event is on October 8: SCTE ® Presents: TV to IP – The Capacity Challenge. After that we enjoyed a fantastic few days at ANGA COM and had our 80th celebrations 2.0, 80s style – we had such a giggle dressing up and rocking out with David Hasselhoff, Michael Jackson and Madonna, it was hilarious. See page 7. We’re celebrating 100 years of television in this issue as the centenary of John Logie Baird’s first transmission approaches; you’ll find two pieces in here this time, one from grandson Iain Logie Baird whose detailed history of the early demonstrations at Selfridges you’ll find on page 24, and a Long Read from me on page 16 – it should be called a Longer Read as it was very difficult to know when to stop, it was fascinating. Thanks to everyone I spoke to in researching this piece. We’ve got technical papers from Spirent and Interra, comment from author Jamie Dobson, Technetix, ST Engineering IDirect, Amphenol, Harmonic and Xpresso Communications, interviews with Technetix, CommScope, IBC, Teleste, SCCI Alphtrack, Colt, FTTH Council Europe and IQGEO, some heartfelt, personal from Dave Keane-Mirajkar and an excerpt from a new book about Google ads.
September has rolled around extremely quickly at the SCTE, it’s been quite a year for us so far. It was a job to pack it all into this issue of Broadband Journal, so much has happened. Our 80th birthday celebrations were a long time coming and like all good milestones we have pretty much made them last the whole year; it’s been fantastic to share them with so many of you and they aren’t over yet. At IBC we are having drinks on the Friday afternoon, September 13 at the Owners Pavilion from 4pm, come and join us! We are excited to be Official Magazine Partners again for IBC and Connected Britain and you’ll find us at the show, come and say hello. We really did it in style in June at our Gala Dinner and Awards, organised beautifully by Bev Walker and what an event it was. The Tower of London may have seen its fair share of horror and gore over the last 1000 years, but in 2025 it was all about champagne and sequins as we took over the White Tower for a (very warm) evening of great food, lovely company, fantastic entertainment and a lot of laughs, as well as giving recognition to the people in our industry. You can read more about this on page 4. Immediately after that came our very well attended SCTE® Presents: Across The Pond event, capitalising on the large number of overseas guests who’d come to London for our Gala Dinner, and the day focused on the similarities, differences and opportunities that come with working with our good friends in North America;
Melissa Cogavin Broadband Journal SCTE ® , Society for Broadband Professionals melissa@theSCTE.eu www.theSCTE.eu
Put the kettle on and enjoy!
Melissa Cogavin
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SEPTEMBER 2025 Volume 47 No.3
NETWORK FOR SUCCESS
n Professional Qualifications n Training & Certification n Quarterly Technical Journal n Lecture Meetings n Conferences & Exhibitions n Events n Networking Opportunities Are you a member yet? Join today and enjoy these membership benefits:
SCTE 80th Annual Gala Dinner & Awards 2025
Tickets, Tables and Sponsorship Opportunities
n Webinars & Podcasts n Bursaries & Discounts
Saturday 21 June 2025 His Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London Black tie | Music and dancing
The Society covers all aspects of Broadband Technology including Fibre, Cable, Satellite, DSL and WiFi.
For more information, email bev@theSCTE.eu
+44 ( 0 ) 1923 815500 | MELISSA@THESCTE.EU | WWW.THESCTE.EU
scte news
SCTE Celebrates 80 th birthday in style
It was a long time coming – and our 75th anniversary never really happened thanks to Covid - so everyone was in fine form on June 21 at the Tower of London to celebrate the SCTE’s 80th birthday. It was absolutely fantastic. With 150 guests in black tie, a fantastic tour of the tower and the Crown Jewels on a beautiful evening in the middle of a heatwave, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner, some excellent entertainment, a slew of awards detailed below and a party with a DJ till the small hours at a hotel nearby. It was wonderful to see so many new faces as well as catch up with old friends, and the atmosphere was fantastic. It was a truly memorable evening, meticulously organised by Bev Walker, whose attention to detail really made it all the more perfect. Huge thanks to our sponsors and guests for making it so much fun; planning has already begun for the 81st Gala Dinner in 2026. We’ll keep you posted!
www.theSCTE.eu
Award Winners HONORARY FELLOWSHIPS
SCTE 2025 CORPORATE AWARDS n SCTE TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION OF THE YEAR 2025 RUNNER-UP TECHNETIX n SCTE TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION OF THE YEAR 2025 WINNER HARMONIC n SCTE SUSTAINABILITY AWARD 2025 RUNNER-UP NETS INTERNATIONAL LTD n SCTE SUSTAINABILITY AWARD 2025 WINNER TECHNETIX
SCTE 2025 INDIVIDUAL AWARDS n THE RICHARD HARRIS SCTE MEMBER OF THE YEAR 2025 BESIM LATIFI, TMSCTE n SCTE ENGINEER OF THE YEAR 2025 GARETH SHELLEY n SCTE RISING STAR OF THE YEAR 2024 THOMAS YOUE n THE 2025 DAVID HALL AWARD FOR THE BEST PRESENTATION OR PAPER MELISSA COGAVIN
n Basil Dillon-Malone
n Philip Humphries
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SCTE NEWS
Congratulations to Anthony and Saskia
Bev is well known for her organisational skills but even she had no idea that our President Anthony Basham would be taking advantage of the thrill of seeing the Crown Jewels by going down on one knee and proposing to his long-time partner Saskia Oettel at our Gala Dinner! Everyone, not least Saskia herself, was surprised and delighted; it was the icing on the cake for our 80th birthday celebrations. They have yet to set a date but we are thrilled for them both and wish them a lifetime of happiness together!
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scte news SCTE Welcomes New Corporate Member
purchase access to the internet or TV. No one in Denmark has performed such an operation before and it could only succeed because of our amazing team and the best partners, especially our good friends at Netceed.” And where are you now? “Today, Vios has expanded its network to other cities in Denmark, and in just two years, seven other city networks have asked Vios to run their networks. Let’s share experiences and help each other across the oceans, it can only be a gift for us all.” says CEO Michael Jakobsen for Vios.” Vios offers internet, TV, mobile broadband, mobile, security packages and electricity to their customers in Denmark.
years. For Vios, unity and being together for more means a lot. In fact, that is what Vios stands for in Danish: “together for more”. Vios has already received help from other members from the SCTE on its journey and we will do everything we can to help on the other side.”
Tell us a bit about your company.
“Vios was established 2½ years ago, when we took back the network from Norlys in Denmark’s second largest city, Aarhus. Overall, the decision went well, as Vios and the administration were given 6 months to build a main station, administration, sales department, systems, etc. to take over the network on December 1, 2022. On the night of the swap, Norlys turned off their signal on the network and Vios took control of approximately 270 RPS/Nodes. Eight hours later, all 90,000 households could
The SCTE welcomed Danish ISP Vios as its latest Corporate Member in July; CEO Michael Jakobsen told Broadband about the company’s journey and why they have joined the SCTE: “We are so happy that Vios is now a gold member of the SCTE. Vios has been on an incredibly exciting journey in the last 2½
www.vios.dk
ANGA COM 2025 Peter and Jennie and the team at
ANGA COM outdid themselves again, by providing a slick, informative show that touched on a number of critical issues facing the industry: sustainability, regulation, diversity, streaming, advertising and AI of course. Our Executive Committee Member Sandie Brodier featured on a panel moderated by SCTE President Anthony Basham entitled Sustainability and Implementation in Telecoms Network. The show was buzzing and busy, there was barely any spare space on the trade show floor and the conference was standing room only much of the time. The ANGA COM team also made a big fuss of the SCTE for our big birthday and we were so touched to receive champagne and flowers from our good friends – thank you so much!
www.theSCTE.eu
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SCTE NEWS
Another fantastic ANGA COM – 80s style!
This year is a special one and we wanted to bring our 80th birthday celebrations to Cologne as not everyone was going to make it to London; and what better way to celebrate a milestone than an 80s themed fancy dress party? Sponsored by our great friends at The Syndeo Institute at the Cable Center in Denver and Openvault from New Jersey, the SCTE commandeered the rooftop Monkey Bar in Cologne with 360 degree views of the city for a Back to the 80s night of dancefloor bangers, headbands, air guitar, cocktails and the most delicious vegetarian food. Everyone made a fantastic effort and despite three large, unexploded WWII bombs discovered that day that threatened to derail the whole event, it was wonderful to see so many SCTE members and industry friends having such a good time, it was a lot of fun. The only problem is, how do we beat that next year?!
www.theSCTE.eu
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scte news SCTE ® Presents: TV to IP – The Capacity Challenge
October 8, One Great George Street, London SW1
https://thescte.eu/events/scte- lectures?view=article&id=493:tv- to-ip-capacity-challenge-scte- event&catid=303
how is the National Grid gearing up for this?
With the terrestrial switch off coming in 2034, and this year commemorating the centenary of the first television transmission by John Logie Baird, it seems timely to focus a series of events on the demands that will be placed on our broadband networks once all our content is delivered down the pipe. In 9 years’ time, what will our networks look like? What preparations are in place now and what needs to happen? What contingencies are there? What pressure will be placed on our energy providers and
These and many other pressing questions will be raised and answered at this compelling and important industry event. Another fantastic line up including Colin Phillips (BT), Xavier Leclercq (Broadpeak), Ian Nock (Fairmile West), Natalie Colakides (SPB Global) are confirmed, with new speakers being added all the time, but as you know, places are limited, so register your interest here:
Sponsorship packages are available. Please contact melissa@theSCTE.eu
www.thescte.eu
Bursary Reports Keith Holland Manager at Liberty Global, Test Equipment Team
ensure quality of service. There are no shows in the UK that have such a diverse spectrum of manufacturers in a single venue. We also get a chance to meet up with some of our vendors from USA, France, Germany etc. All of this allows us to understand the whole marketplace in a short period of time. This time at ANGA COM meeting with Comsonics meant returning with a new meter to test in the labs (see below) which if passed will be adopted into VMO2. Also, some brainstorming has resulted in another potential device to identify drops that have lost tags, something that can be very time consuming for our engineers in the field. Another discussion with Telenco has resulted in arranging a factory visit to the UK warehouse to understand their capabilities. It was also interesting to see the Technetix Moca 2.5 solution called ORCA. There were some cleaver robots on display for fibre patching, bringing up further possibilities and discussions around standards, and what the government is doing towards sustainability. It also raised questions about how we as an industry can lobby for better practices.
I manage a small team looking after all the test equipment for VMO2. Part of our role is to look at new equipment that can either create time savings for the engineers, or better reporting centrally. This is to ensure the work done by either our staff or contract partners meets the standards required by VMO2. We also look for best value of cost versus quality to get the right balance for quality equipment. Within the purchase decision we look at total cost of ownership, which includes servicing and maintaining the equipment; as a result we are always looking for new partnerships with either manufacturers, calibration houses or rental companies. It was great to receive a bursary from the SCTE to attend ANGA COM. I find the show brings a good mixture of companies together to allow us to capture what’s happening in the market; this is essential for finding new equipment and manufacturers. It also gives us the chance to look at new technologies and what we may need to consider with testing to
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SCTE NEWS
Graham Bell Senior Manager, Access Network Engineering - Liberty Global
Each year the SCTE offers bursaries to help with travel and hotel costs for our members to attend important and educational trade shows and events across the industry. This is open to ALL individual members, so do make sure you take advantage of this incredible membership benefit. Last year seven SCTE bursaries were awarded for ANGA COM in May, five from IPKO in Kosovo, one from ARDING, also in Kosovo and a final winner from the UK. Don’t miss out on this incredible membership benefit in 2026 and beyond! The general sense of chaos you often feel at the conference was exacerbated with three large unexploded WW2 bombs being uncovered in the centre of Cologne. The resultant evacuation zone created a sort of siege mentality within the Messe with everyone staying in the halls longer on the Wednesday before they could return to their hotels. Fibre was still a strong theme with various innovations to help drive the ongoing build- outs with new tooling or more efficient solutions. Early 50G PON solutions were also quite prevalent amongst the major players in the market. ‘AI’ tools are now often included as part of the management systems, demonstrating that these tools I was hoping to return to ANGA COM in 2025 as I could see there was a great range of vendors and conference sessions that looked to be of real interest to me and for my role within the Liberty TECH Fixed Network Access department at Liberty Global. I was therefore delighted when my bursary submission was accepted by the committee. It was interesting to sense a slight change from the last year where fibre really appeared to be the only game in town. In 2025 it felt as though there was more of a balance and a good amount of fresh ideas to go and check out.
How do I apply? Please write up to 300 words on why you would benefit from a bursary and email it to office@theSCTE.eu Winners will be notified prior to each event. Please make your application and your subsequent report (for the lucky winners) your original work! No ChatGPT please. Application deadline for ANGA COM is 31 March 2026, and 1 June 2026 for IBC. automation which may assist with the lab-based engineering and testing of access technologies that my department is responsible for. It was good to see a few of the vendors presenting different and innovative solutions to overcome the challenge of improving broadband to existing MDUs (Multi-Dwelling Units) that smartly repurpose existing in-building coaxial cabling, while integrating with XGS-PON networks or indeed R-PHY. I came away with some decent leads; we have started to have follow up conversations in areas such as lab/test and network automation, orchestration, device emulation/simulation, network resource booking and scheduling, test tools and various components for our lab builds. This is a great result. As always, ANGA COM isn’t just about tech, it’s about people. This year saw an excellent turnout from European operators, making for great exchanges of ideas, insights and naturally, a few well-earned beers. Thank you to the SCTE for making it possible for me to be there.
are starting to move from buzzwords to useful features in real deployments. One vendor stirred important conversations about the operational challenges of fibre networks, stressing the importance of early diagnostics and long-term reliability as more providers transition from coaxial infrastructures. Cable and DOCSIS provided quite a bit of excitement as well this year. DOCSIS 4.0 is really starting to take off with the main vendors all demonstrating D4.0 RPD prototypes, amps and passives as well as the three big players all showing off their vCMTS products. There seems to be real momentum in this field now, and 2026 may actually see some build outs starting to happen. It was also interesting to hear that there is a genuine path emerging to further the development of DOCSIS, continuing to utilise the existing
investments in coax to even higher speeds – DOCSIS 5.0 perhaps?
I was interested in some of the solutions around emulation, simulation and test
SCTE Bursaries
What’s included? E ach bursary package for either ANGA COM or IBC in 2026 includes pre-paid flights and hotel accommodation for up to 3 nights (courtesy of the SCTE) and entrance to the full conference programme (courtesy of ANGA or IBC as appropriate). The full terms and conditions of the bursary can be found on our website. At the end of the event you will be expected to write a report of your experiences, what you gained from attending and to highlight any specific areas that you found valuable or of specific interest.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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scte news Connected Britain
Thanks to the team at Total Telecom for another terrific opportunity, and a special shout out to Cheryl and Kieran for their hard work.
the show, and we wanted to give these companies some well-deserved, free of charge recognition. Connected Britain, Connected Germany and Connected North are now important industry events, not to be missed if you are in the business of connectivity. With a stellar programme and speakers including industry bodies, operators, altnets, local and national government representatives, regulators and business owners, you’ll find hardware, software, OTT and digital service providers, as well as us, the all- important press.
We are delighted to be partnering with Connected Britain again this year, which takes place on 24-25 September, and we are the show’s Official Magazine Partner. We will be doing something special with the 200 start-up companies assembled in the Investor Zone. All have the opportunity to be featured in our Start Up Zone section of Broadband Journal which we launched two years ago in response to the staggering levels of innovation we saw at
Are you a start-up company at Connected Britain this year? Do you want to reach decision makers across the UK, Europe and North America? Drop us a line at office@theSCTE.eu with your details and we will give you a call.
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scte BEnelux News
SCTE Networking Reception during IBC 2025 Friday, 12 September 2025, 16:00 | SCTE Stand
12 September at 16:00 . This is a great opportunity to wind down after a day at the show, reconnect with industry peers, and expand your professional network.
From 12-15 September 2025, the international IBC event will take place in Amsterdam. SCTE will be present as usual at the Owners Pavilion outside Hall 8 and is pleased to invite members to an informal networking reception on Friday
Follow SCTE Benelux Online
Stay up to date with the latest news about SCTE Benelux. Follow us on LinkedIn or visit our website. Information on the website (www.sctebenelux.nl) is available in both Dutch and English.
www.sctebenelux.nl
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scte BEnelux News
The TechSummit Autumn Edition - focus on sustainability Wednesday afternoon, 5 November 2025 The biannual SCTE Tech Summit, organised in collaboration with dimensions of these sustainability challenges.
social developments, technological advances and evolving regulations. Key challenges include energy consumption and climate impact, as broadband networks are major energy users. Material use, both in network rollouts and upgrades, also requires industry- wide attention. The SCTE Benelux Tech Summit will explore the technical
NLconnect, returns on Wednesday 5 November. This edition will focus on sustainability – a pressing topic in the broadband and telecom sectors.
More information on the location and speakers is available at www.sctebenelux.nl
The Summit will address the growing importance of sustainability driven by
Save the Date
SCTE Benelux Annual Dinner | Thursday, 12 February 2026 The last SCTE Annual Dinner at the Mauritshuis in The Hague was an unforgettable evening for all attendees. For the next edition, scheduled for Thursday 12 February 2026 , we’re once again planning an inspiring venue. While the location is still to be announced, be sure to mark the date in your calendar — this is an evening not to miss!
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scte balkans news
Letter from the Balkans Besim Latifi, our Ambassador-at-Large updates us on what’s happening in the Balkans.
Translating “Want” and “Need” into Technology Demand: A Practical Look at HFC vs. FibRE
In both life and business, what we want is not always what we need—especially when the desire for change leads to costly or irrational decisions. This distinction becomes especially important when evaluating technology investments, particularly the ongoing discussion around Hybrid Fibre-Coaxial (HFC) and fibre networks. There’s a growing perception that HFC is declining in favour of fibre due to rising demand. However, this “want” for fibre doesn’t reflect the reality for all operators—especially those with substantial, long-standing investments in HFC infrastructure. For these companies, the real need is to extend the life and value of their HFC networks—often for another 10 to 15 years—rather than prematurely abandoning them. A key consideration in this decision is user experience. Most customers do not distinguish whether their internet speed
comes via HFC or fibre, as long as it supports their digital lifestyle. While fibre once held a clear speed advantage— especially when HFC was limited to 1GHz—modern upgrades have narrowed this gap. In 2025 we continue to see operators across major markets like the U.S., Australia, Japan, and broader Asia investing in long-term HFC upgrade programmes projected to run for another 15 to 20 years. The desire for fibre is certainly valid in greenfield deployments, where operators are building networks from scratch. In these cases, choosing fibre aligns well with long-term goals. However, in brownfield environments, operators increasingly pursue a hybrid model— deploying both fibre and HFC depending on geography, cost and customer density. In many areas, the same provider is simultaneously expanding both technologies.
Besim Latifi, SCTE Ambassador- At-Large
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scte balkans news
Phasing out HFC entirely presents a significant challenge. In strategic terms, it can resemble a
checkmate scenario. Decommissioning HFC means writing off hundreds of millions in prior infrastructure investments and committing to significantly higher costs for fibre deployment—all while offering customers similar services at the same price. This is why innovation around HFC continues. Enhancing its performance is not just about extending its life, but also about preserving return on investment and minimising disruption for both operators and customers. Beyond cost, there are also legal and logistical challenges. In many regions, upgrading to fibre would require regulatory approval and the consent of residents—many of whom may not permit additional cabling in their homes. Even where permitted, coordinating millions of in-home appointments is a time- consuming and expensive process. Labour shortages further complicate the issue. Skilled technicians capable of performing fibre installations are increasingly scarce. With a shrinking workforce in this sector, the feasibility of rapid large-scale fibre deployment becomes questionable. At the end of the day, whether 10Gbps service is delivered via fibre or HFC, the end user likely doesn’t notice a difference. What matters is reliability and performance. Conclusion The mindset of “I want fibre” must be balanced with the practicality of “I’m okay with HFC.” In many cases, leveraging existing HFC infrastructure to deliver next- generation services is a more rational and sustainable choice—for both operators and subscribers. It reflects a shift from technology-driven decisions to value-driven strategies, where need takes priority over want.
NextGen Networks Institute Update Kosovo Prepares Youth for the Global Technology Market
tools and opportunities to local youth, professionals and entrepreneurs.
education, startup development and international collaboration in the most critical and fast-growing fields of the 21st century: n Artificial Intelligence (AI), n Cybersecurity,
Next Gen Networks Institute & the Kosova Innovation Hub are taking concrete steps to prepare Kosovo’s youth for the most in-demand fields in technology, aiming to meet the needs of international investors and the global job market. Led by Next Gen Networks Institute & the Kosova Innovation Hub, 2025 marks what we are calling the Innovation Year. We aim to transform Kosovo into a vibrant centre of technological advancement and innovation, so committed are we to becoming the leading hub in Kosovo and the region for advanced technology
Together, we are building a future where the vibrant and beautiful town of Peja becomes a regional powerhouse of innovation— connecting minds, accelerating ideas and shaping the digital economy.
n Quantum Computing, n 5G & 6G Technologies, n Cloud & Data Infrastructure
To find out more visit: https://ngn-ks.org/
This year, the Kosova Innovation Hub will deepen collaboration with international partners to bring cutting-edge knowledge,
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scte long read
What next for TV? Television is 100! By Melissa Cogavin, Broadband Journal
Attempting to grasp the technical and cultural achievements of television is like trying to comprehend the size of the universe; nobody is exempt from the impact of TV, nobody can realistically say they don’t know what it is and have no need for it, in the way you might dismiss the Internet, or electric vehicles, for example. Television is so ubiquitous and has played such an integral role in our lives it is a challenge (especially with this wordcount) to step back and assess its origins, its impact and its future. For you, reader, I will give it a go. Frequently blamed for dumbing us down, making our eyes square and dulling our senses, TV has been responsible for recording the biggest moments in recent history (coronations, royal weddings, the moon landing, the World Cup, assassinations, war, Diana’s funeral, Michael Jackson’s interview with Martin Bashir, Scott and Charlene’s wedding) to peppering our vernacular with references you’d only get if you watched
“For people of my background, very poor East End people, television was a phenomenon. I mean, we couldn’t afford a motor car - out of the question. Refrigerator was an unnecessary luxury. But television! Oh, it was like the eighth wonder of the world!” The Viewer’s View, 1977 (BBC Archives)
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scte long read
1925 was the result of decades of work by scientists and engineers on both sides of the Atlantic working towards the common, if imprecise, goal of the production and transmission of a moving image, an extension of the radio, and the credit for which is hotly contested even now. Other big names working on various forms of what we now know to be television included Charles Francis Jenkins, one of the founders of SMPTE, who was developing electro-mechanical TV, Vladimir Zworykin and Philo T Farnsworth who worked on electronic TV, and let’s not forget Leon Theremin, also put into operation a mechanical TV in 1926-1927, but is often overlooked as he was based in Russia. Richard Welsh, President of SMPTE was correct in his assessment that “The early evolution of television is not a story that’s told that much. There’s an assumption that television was just invented at a certain place and a certain time, but the reality is people were thinking about television in the late 1800s, building mechanical devices to get an image on a screen. It wasn’t about broadcast at that point.” This was in the heyday of the Industrial Revolution, a time of frenetic innovation, supreme Victorian confidence and seemingly endless funds to throw at R&D, so it is perhaps not surprising that television’s embryonic early stages coincided with the development of cinema and the radio.
Big Brother, Top of the Pops, The Fast Show or any number of gameshows, there are countless others (and that’s just British TV). ‘Computer says no’ is part of everyday language and impossible to explain without reference to TV.
In 2025 this seems so long ago but we are fortunate that Iain Logie Baird, grandson of John is a passionate custodian of Logie Baird family history and told Broadband, “My father was only 11 years old when John Logie Baird died. So my father knew him, but only as a child. He was allowed into the lab only very occasionally; he did see colour television around 1944 with 600 lines, which was quite comparable to the PAL system that we had over 20 years later.” Iain also added some texture to the story, explaining that the advent of rising populism and nationalism in the 1930s did little to advance the technology and a lot to pit opposing groups against each other. One can view this in the spirit of competition of course, but at one stage Iain tells us the British, Americans, Germans, Japanese and Russians were all racing to establish patents and manufacturing partners simultaneously. “There was even a small Canadian contingent of inventors, because their patents were bought out, or they borrowed patents from my grandfather, in one case.” The story goes that Baird was in London, experimenting with a ventriloquist dummy, one of three nicknamed ‘Stookie Bill’ in a laboratory in Soho when he achieved his first clear image - just two eyes and a mouth, prompting him to race downstairs and put his assistant William Painton on a stool in front of the camera, asking him to stick his tongue out to make sure it worked. Painton, not realising the
TV has also been the existential bogeyman for the cinema industry
throughout the last century as technology came and went (VHS, Betamax, 3D TV, DVD, laser disc, Blu-ray, cable, satellite and now of course we are in the brave new world of streaming), not to mention the evolution of the hardware itself. From a small box in the corner that barely evolved in 50 years to wall-mounted, 4K digital flatscreens complemented by eardrum popping surround sound, the rise of the home-cinema system has seen the television become the focal point of our living rooms, hanging on a bracket over the mantlepiece. With all that in mind it is miraculous cinema has endured at all. Invention of Television The invention of the television (the first use of the word ‘television’ is attributed to Constantin Perskyi in 1900, who used it in a paper read to the International Electricity Congress in Paris on August 24) was far from a one-off Eureka moment conducted by one man in isolation, much as history likes to pinpoint single dates in a convenient, linear manner; the reality is John Logie Baird’s first mechanical television transmission on October 2,
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that took place between 1925 and 1945, when it was standardised, when people defined solutions for mass market deployment. That should only have taken 15 years, but they had a little thing called a war and a massive recession that destroyed investment in television, except for ministry applications. This was a long, drawn-out development,” Ian Nock explained. World War II led to a shutdown of television in the UK for the duration of the war, and resources redirected towards radar technology.
From then till now
Fast forward 100 years and it is astonishing that a single analogue device has endured as long as it has. From 1925 to 1990 and the advent of digital TV, analogue television was all that was available, and nothing really changed much at all. TVs got very, very small for a few years in the 80s, and then very very big, and gradually, very very flat (interrupted briefly by the now obsolete curved TV: “The 2010’s technological shooting star. Emerging on the scene and in the blink of an eye, it was gone. The TV nobody really asked for”, according to Spy.com). Now in 2025, the television world has switched off analogue and is looking ahead to a switch off of another kind altogether: from digital to IP. 2034 sounds a way off but it’s only nine years, and what seems like just another milestone is throwing up a multitude of technical, commercial, social, political and even existential considerations; against all of that, nine years seems like nowhere near enough time. The Current Landscape Discussing the evolution of television can’t be done in a vacuum. While technically not a lot changed from 1925 to 1998, after that everything changed. The late 20th century could have seen more technological progress, but the general public’s appetite for upgrading hardware was suffering from considerable fatigue by 1999, never mind confusion. The financial pressure to keep up with the barrage of formats inflicted on them, a new one every few years by the early 90s sounds ridiculous now; music alone during this period was available on vinyl, cassette, CD and minidisc, but by 2008 the iPod was dancing its way into our homes, introducing the world to mp3s, iTunes and later Spotify, heralding a new product
The television transmitter apparatus in operation at 22 Frith Street in early 1925 as would have been demonstrated for Selfridge and Bosdari. The ‘mask’ is visible at centre. To the right of it is the large double-8 lens disc, a smaller light interrupter disc, and the large 'monitor' disc, white at its outer edge, that was perforated with 16 rectangular holes. In the foreground is a wooden box with what looks like a drainage tube. Image source: Tiltman, Baird of Television, 1927
the actual invention happened, and that’s why when talking to SMPTE, IEEE, IET and the RTS there’s still a frisson of annoyance and competitiveness about who actually invented television. The invention was pure John Logie Baird, because he was the first, even only by a few weeks, to get it working fully.” Even now, Ian said, there’s a lot of sensitivity. “I was talking to an engineer and when they heard that the IET were marking the centenary on 2 October they told me, ‘That’s not the first date, it was the 26 January. I’m disgusted that someone like you would be doing that.” Disgust seems a bit strong, but there is obviously still enormous pride in the evolution of what the rest of us take completely for granted, and a reminder that history is often written in real time by the loudest voices, not necessarily because that’s what happened. Back to Soho; after that half-crown was handed over the milestones followed thick and fast, investors rolled in, big names took an interest, competition intensified. Baird and Farnsworth continue to innovate, becoming friends during this period as RCA and EMI battled for patents, market share and manufacturing dominance. Evolving on a fairly straight trajectory, it wasn’t as rapid as you might expect, given the pace and innovation of the late Industrial period. “The slow development of what became television
historical significance of this, had to be paid half a crown to cooperate. A few months later on January 26, 1926, Baird invited forty distinguished scientists from the Royal Institution to witness a slightly perfected transmission, recognising the importance of credibility in such a fiercely competitive environment. It was a cunning move and it worked; television’s life as a scientific innovation was officially underway and Logie Baird made history. Philo T Farnsworth was working on much the same concept in the US and on September 7, 1927 at a laboratory in San Francisco achieved the same, but this time as an electronic transmission. Interestingly, only two Stookie Bills have survived, Iain told me. A colleague of Logie Baird ended up with one, which was passed down through the family, stored in a cupboard for safe keeping over many decades until one Guy Fawkes night, “when they needed something to throw on the fire.” One can only imagine the dull realisation and ensuing, lifelong regret that followed. Documenting of history Ian Nock of Fairmile West, a technology consultant and SCTE Member said the history of television could be summed up by the phrase, “I only see so far because I am standing on the shoulders of giants,” adding “Patents were all defined before
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few gigantic brands have done much to soften that particular blow and the public have raced ahead, its appetite for sexy, well designed, compatible tech and new generations of anything from handsets to electric cars to games consoles inexhaustible. Public setting the pace Because hardware is now cheaply available, formats wars are behind us and everything is online, the public is setting the pace; increasingly savvy Gen Z generations onwards do not know the world without the Internet; once again, as we have seen in other articles in Broadband Journal, it is the attitudes of generations that are affecting commercial and technical shifts, for better or worse. Gen Z have no attachment to the BBC or terrestrial programming; for them, there is no nostalgia for Doctor Who and Bagpuss; Antiques Roadshow and Songs of Praise isn’t aimed at them either. Linear TV in their home is about as relevant as owning a copy of the Yellow Pages.
up with Netflix, Amazon Prime, and particularly Disney, who brought forward the launch of their own platform during lockdown to capitalise on millions of cooped-up households. For advertisers and networks, what seemed an opportunity has become a significant problem. Fragmenting audiences have resulted in a number of unforeseen consequences. “The biggest failure is that the content providers, HBO, Disney, Paramount, saw the success of Netflix and wanted a bigger portion of that money. So they invested heavily into something of their own.” Natalie Colakides is a Technology, Media and Telecoms Research Analyst with S&P Global Intelligence and says the outcome has resulted in market saturation, poorer quality and more confusion. “There is less money to go around; and you can’t find content anymore without googling it on your phone. You have no idea what’s out there anymore.”
again, the Bluetooth speaker. We all remember people giving away their record collection in favour of CDs, only for those to become obsolete after 20 years. Men In Black was released in 1997 and Tommy Lee Jones’ character drily captured the mood: “I guess I’ll have to buy the White Album again.” Progress was consumer-led, because the hardware was expensive to replace, and CDs themselves were retailing as much as £16.99 on occasion, while costing record labels 13p per unit. There was a curious point from around 2005, when the beleaguered public had to juggle their Blackberry (no camera really and no internet access), digital SD cards of varying sizes for their cameras, printers that required CD Roms to install on their desktop computer, TomTom to stick on their dashboard and just to lighten things up, everyone gave each other digital photo frames that Christmas; how exciting, technology was the future! All these gadgets required their own unique chargers and there was no Amazon to fall back on if you lost one, and not a lot of online help available either. Innovation was plentiful if clunky and often bizarre; nothing talked to each other and anyone reading this will have a few lingering SD cards in drawers at home containing long forgotten photos they will never get to see.
Scaling back linear TV
The Radio Times seemed an anachronism even in the 80s, but we could do with something like that now, especially for the less technically literate. At the same time, linear TV channels, which older audiences depend on are reducing their output. Italy had 400 two years ago; it now has half that. ITV announced a slashing of budgets and a slew of redundancies in May, reducing running times of daytime favourites Lorraine, Loose Women and This Morning. While this affects the viewing pleasure of audiences, it also significantly affects the media production industry; presenter Kirsty Allsop bemoaned the short-sighted actions of ITV recently, telling The Media Show podcast, “We know that we live in an increasingly different TV universe. No one could ever have predicted 25 years ago that this would happen, and streaming has affected absolutely everything. But it’s desperately sad that these cuts have come to daytime because daytime is where people learn their craft, where producers and directors get their first chance, where new talent is discovered. It’s a gentler, easier place. And when the cuts hit that kind of television, it’s a bad time for all the legacy, terrestrial channels.” Reducing the output from terrestrial because of external pressures is understandable, but will affect the industry, as Kirsty points out, and audiences alike. IBC Chair Stephen Nuttall
Power of the internet
The Internet’s influence has affected everything from the software powering the hardware to fragmentation of audiences; world events like Covid have accelerated such fragmentation as other content providers like Paramount sought to keep
Globalisation, online retailers, cheap Chinese imports and the dominance of a
Sony Trinitron KV-4000KV
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defunding the BBC remain unclear, since the same critics demand the abolition of other quintessentially British institutions including the NHS, RNLI, ECHR, the Monarchy and the National Trust all in the name of Keeping Britain Great. It is nothing less than extraordinary, against all of the above, that the cost of today’s licence fee at £174.50 per year is considerably lower in real terms than it was in 1968 (£219), and covers TV, live broadcasts, live TV on any channel and the yawning, award-winning archives of BBC iPlayer, especially as few of these platforms even existed 57 years ago. The BBC would do well to remind viewers, especially the angry ones what a great deal they’re getting. While the licence fee may be excellent value for money in 2025, it isn’t really fit for purpose anymore. Nobody I spoke to feels it can remain as it is; television as a concept and a business has evolved beyond recognition since 1946 so the funding model requires urgent reform to retain the goodwill of the people paying for it. The Royal Charter, a constitutional framework for the BBC is reviewed every ten years and covers the governance of the BBC. It is up for renewal in 2027 so discussions are underway about how the licence fee will be paid for going forward.
was introduced in 1946 at an annual cost of £2 (£105 in today’s money). Colour television required further licencing and was introduced in 1968 for £10 (£219 in today’s money). A legal requirement for all viewers, enforcement, if it happened at all seems steeped in myth: from people disguising their televisions as microwaves in the kitchen to state-of-the-art detector vans creeping around residential neighbourhoods at night. There are vociferous arguments online even now that detecting a television being switched on like this simply wasn’t possible in the 80s, despite effective public information films frightening people into paying up; there were no Internet forums back then for speculation to fester. Detector vans may be mythical (NB: they aren’t: the technology did exist, rudimentary though it was in the 80s, and there is a detector van on display in the Science Museum) but debt collection isn’t; one industry expert told me his daughter is being chased with threatening red letters about her outstanding licence fee payments, even though she has deliberately opted out of paying (see previous page, Gen Z ambivalence). “And that’s got to stop, because that’s destroying the opinion of the BBC amongst young people,” he pointed out. In recent years as populism has dominated politics, the licence fee has become an unfortunate political football of its own. Rightwing politicians and social media influencers regularly demand the licence fee be abandoned and the BBC defunded, amid accusations of bias (this comes from both left and right, so the BBC must surely be doing a fairly decent job of remaining impartial). Complaints that the licence fee is unreasonably high amid a cost-of-living crisis are frequent, but restricted to the more toxic quarters of X (formerly Twitter) and occasionally the Telegraph; how serious these calls are for
said “there are definitely some big policy questions around how terrestrial TV could either be reduced in scope or completely eliminated. Those will take quite a bit of time to run through because you do still have an older audience in particular that’s very loyal and reliant on linear TV.” It’s a smaller number than it was, but it is still a larger demographic than the disinterested Gen Z demographic. Richard Lindsay-Davies, Chief Executive Officer, Digital TV Group (DTG) stressed the industry is well aware of the dangers of digital exclusion, while scaling back linear TV. “Television is inclusive, we’ve got to make sure it stays inclusive.” He went on, “The DTG have just done a piece of work for Ofcom with Goldsmiths University on older audiences and how they use television. We tested those candidates on other things like searching through a programme guide, searching through a broadcast app like iPlayer or ITVX, and then an actual search typing stuff in and then a voice search. The findings suggested that we introduced a layer of complexity to each stage and ultimately lost 25% of them in the process. “That shows us the importance of making sure for those that need it, there’s a television experience that is just like a television experience today. Over-stimulated old people staring at a Samsung or LG home screen, looking at everything on there, channels have sold bits of real estate everywhere and the whole commercial model is bewildering; they’re just terrified. We also used eye tracking technology; if people’s eyes become furtive and dancing around, that’s a direct indicator of anxiety and stress levels. There’s nothing worse than seeing someone trying to use a television but getting anxious about it. “We will have to intervene to make sure usability functions in future; there will probably be a level of requirement on broadcasters to make sure television has a simple interface. They clearly are on broadcasters to make sure that we manage harm and offence and safety and cultural relevance; it all forms part of the experience.”
The big questions
Richard Welsh raises an important point. “If terrestrial broadcast is going to be switched off in 2034, and the whole consumption of content has changed so radically, it does make the question of a licence fee difficult to justify.” The implications on the wider media industry if the licence fee is actually abolished, on the grounds that £174 is too much to pay and the model is outmoded, are chilling.
Business models
Meanwhile, on the ‘other side,’ as viewers of a certain age will remember referring to the BBC/ITV dichotomy, the terrestrial switch off has all kinds of implications. The BBC, whose licence fee
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