LONDON—BBC, BT Sport, Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, Sky and UKTV will no longer accept shows delivered on videotape as of Oct. 1, 2017, according to the Digital Production Partnership. 

“By choosing a date that is nearly a year away, everyone has the time to plan for the end of the use of tape,” said DPP Managing Director Mark Harrison. “The DPP will coordinate the change process, working with broadcasters, suppliers, producers and post houses to ensure a smooth transition.”

Standardized file delivery began in the United Kingdom Oct. 1, 2014, when broadcasters there adopted AS-11, the common spec established by the DPP in collaboration with the Advanced Media Workflow Association. Since that time, according to the DPP, more than 25,000 programs have been delivered as AS-11 DPP files.

While some tape delivery of programs originally commissioned on tape or being delivered close to transmission will continue, the DPP, British broadcasters and playout vendors and planning for the complete removal of tape from the workflow.

In the months ahead, the DPP will provide common guidance on key areas such as the delivery of programs close to transmission, and the process for lines booking and lines record. This new guidance will be released to the industry in an updated version of the DPP Producers Guide to File Delivery, to be published next year.

TOKYO—Sony is ending end the shipment of Beta video cassette and micro cassette MV tape in March, 2016. The electronics vendor made the announcement at its Japan Press Center.

Beta magnetic tape is at the heart of the Betamax format, which Sony has produced since 1975. Betamax was pitched against VHS in the “video format war” to be the tape type adopted for home recording. VHS ultimately prevailed, but Sony continued producing Betamax recorders and cassettes.

Sony ended Betamax recorder production in 2002. It ended production of micro MV recorders in 2005.

“As a result, the recording media of the Betamax format… and shipping of the recording medium of the micro MV format,” will end, Sony said. This includes EL-500B, 2L, 500MHGB, 2L-750MHGB and L-25CLP, the cleaning tape for Beta; micro MV cassettes MGR60 and MGRCLD, the micro MV cleaning tape.