FROM THE INDUSTRY
day, because they were concerned about the distraction that having TV on all the time would cause. Jonas basically decided what the entire country would watch. There was concern around Y2K and then it came and went seamlessly; a lot of people said, “Well, there was obviously nothing to worry about, was there?” Well, only because of the advance preparation. What preparation will be required for television? The switch off will have a lot of knock-on consequences, not least the license fee model needing to be redefined. Ongoing access to multiple sources of impartial news and current affairs is critical for democracy. How terrestrial TV could either be reduced in scope or completely eliminated will be policy questions to consider. The older audience in particular is very loyal and reliant on linear TV, plus it’s important that the ubiquity of public service broadcasting is maintained. With YouTube now easily eclipsing viewing figures among the under 35’s for BBC iPlayer, never mind terrestrial television, it is clear that Jonas’ job description is a world away from the sophisticated viewing habits of today’s audiences, who will find government intervention like that of 1970s Iceland incomprehensible. The pace of change is bewildering; audiences are keeping up a lot better than the decision makers much of the time, often setting the pace themselves, one of the biggest challenges the industry faces. IBC’s continued stewardship of the innovation, communication, business and policy of broadcast and streaming will be vital as we turn this next historic corner, remembering to bring everyone with us on this journey.
at that. So, it’s reinventing itself, trying to shape the future of the industry. That’s what we’re here for, to be a meaningful force for those discussions to happen. What’s happening at the conference this year? There are three themes for the agenda for the conference: transformative technology, shifting business models, and the third concerns people and purpose. We have the CTO of Warner Brothers Discovery, ABC, Fremantle, Sling TV, YouTube, Channel 4, ITV, Sky Deutschland, TikTok and ProSieben confirmed as speakers and more joining the lineup all the time. We’ve got a terrific mix of technologists, content creators, distributors and analysts. We’re thinking about how the ad sales industry will evolve and change as the broadcast industry is reshaped. Then there is the technical paper programme, which is part of the DNA of IBC, and brings us back to the point about science being a driver for so much of this. I feel proud that the technical paper programme is part of the convening power that I talked about. It’s the rhythm of the year for a lot of people. It’s part of our heritage and an important thread within the whole community. What are your views on the terrestrial TV switch off? We should embrace progress. The terrestrial TV switch off is coming. I suspect Amara’s Law may apply again here; it’ll probably take a lot longer to happen than anybody really believes for a whole host of reasons, including digital inclusion and making sure people don’t get cut off from current affairs, but it will happen. But the television is now the most watched screen for YouTube, followed by the mobile and then the computer. When I joined YouTube in 2012, the computer was the most watched screen, then the mobile was growing, and TV was this thing in the corner that nobody really focused on. Television’s good at reinventing itself. I’m not sure how you would define television these days, but you certainly wouldn’t define television as being a broadcast, linear channel distributed by a broadcast medium. That wasn’t so long ago. We will both remember Channel 4 launching in the UK as the fourth national channel. I used to work with someone who was the controller of Icelandic television in the 1970s; there was only one channel which only ran five days a week and only for a few hours a
https://show.ibc.org/
SEPTEMBER 2025 Volume 47 No.3
65
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker