The 49th General Assembly of the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) ended last Friday with a call for governments to consider public interest in planning broadcast future.

Broadcasters from across the Asia-Pacific region called on governments in the region to keep spectrum for public interest broadcasting when they switch over to digital television. In what is being called the Seoul Declaration, public broadcasters attending the meeting in Seoul said that spectrum from the digital transition “should not just be sold for short term gain – it should be devoted to the public good.”

The Seoul Declaration was one of five new initiatives launched at the Seoul General Assembly. ABU Secretary General Dr. Javid Mottaghi commented, “We knew we had a big task to accomplish, so everyone came prepared to share experiences and solutions to the challenges faced by the transition to digital broadcasting, the expansion of new media and the impact of social media on our traditional ways of doing business.”