The International Media Connectivity Group Forum (IMCG) will be held in Boston, Mass. this fall. The forum, which is nearing it’s 39th year, is an effort of the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU), which includes broadcasters from Europe, Africa, Asia, the Arab States, North America, South America and the Caribbean.

At its inception in 1985, the WBU-IMCG forum—formerly referred to as the “International Satellite Operations Group”—was created to address the number of issues facing satellite transmission at the time, and to acknowledge the essential role that satellite distribution play in global content delivery. Today, the forum works to reflect the rapidly changing technology landscape, and be inclusive of all viable contribution and distribution solutions broadcasters use in their operations.

To learn more about the event, to be held Oct. 7–8, TV Tech sister brand Radio World spoke with Ken Fuller, the VP of distribution and technology at Paramount, and WBU-IMCG vice-chair. He answered our queries via email.

RW: For those who have never heard of this forum, what is its mission/who does it cater to?Fuller: WBU-IMCG’s mission is to identify, evaluate, educate and (where appropriate) implement solutions for operational matters associated with transmission (collection and delivery). All types of transmission are covered, i.e., by any means and to any platform of video, audio and broadcast-related data. This includes any location from which news, sports, special events and entertainment are created and/or distributed. Operational issues considered by WBU-IMCG include transmissions using Internet Protocol (IP) and other media platforms.

In recent years, the group has included 5G, cybersecurity and AI as well. The WBU-IMCG works neutrally with relevant international groups, institutions, organizations and appropriate bodies to achieve these ends. By doing so, the WBU-IMCG reflects one of the core aims of the WBU by supporting the needs and the requirements of broadcasters around the world.

RW: Who at WBU-IMCG is spearheading the event this year?Fuller: A planning team comprised of broadcasters, satellite operators and a few vendors led by Morwen Williams, director of media operations at the BBC, along with two vice-chairs, Joe Shimizu, senior manager of the General Broadcasting Administration at NHK, and myself. We make up the “brain trust” that comes up with the program for each forum.

RW: What can attendees expect? Are there any speakers/sessions of note that you wish to highlight?
Fuller: 2024 is a very busy year in terms of world events, from major sporting events like the Olympics, UEFA Euro Championships and Copa America to major elections in many countries. There is a focus on ensuring reliable and managed connectivity to bringing these events and their reporting to global audiences. The forum will deal with 5G connectivity, IP infrastructure and solutions, AI as a cybersecurity threat and, of course, the latest in satellite service offerings.

RW: Are there any specific industry trends & hot topics that are top of mind as forum plans come together?
Fuller: There is a plethora of subjects that are available for discussion; however, the WBU-IMCG mandate is to look at them through a connectivity lens. From these forums, the open discussions and shared learning always deliver new ideas and angles to tackle a problem. The wealth of knowledge that comes with an international audience at the event is one of the main reasons as to why the WBU-IMCG Forums have been so successful for these many years. On our foreseeable radar are hot topics such as AI, cybersecurity, sustainability and 5G transmissions.

RW: What has public interest been like so far?
Fuller: Originally, this forum was only for members of the WBU broadcasting unions. Pre-pandemic, the forum easily attracted 80–100 people in-person, depending on where it was held. Since the pandemic, the average in-person attendance has been a little lower, due mainly to corporate travel bans. So we have added remote participation to keep those loyal attendees involved. In this current economic climate, it’s necessary to offer a hybrid option.

RW: Do you have a goal in terms of turnout?
Fuller: Our goal is to have attendance of at least 75 participants. Boston is a popular business hub, and fairly easy to get to, so we are looking forward to welcoming our participants to Verizon’s facility. Given the strength of the programs we have put together in the past few years, we decided this year to open participation to non-members of a WBU broadcasting union. In the spirit of public service, we are not charging a fee to non-members for their participation.

Register for the forum here.

 TORONTO—The World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) has issued a statement saying it is “profoundly shocked, saddened and extremely concerned about the assassination of Al Jazeera TV Correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh” on May 11 and the gun fire that wounded her colleague Ali Al-Samoudi who “is now in stable condition in hospital.”

“Abu Akleh and Al-Samoudi were clearly identified as PRESS and were standing with other journalists covering Israeli army raids in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, when shooting broke out,” the group said. “This aggression is an egregious breach of UN Declaration of Press Freedom, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions and UN Security Council Resolution 2222 on the protection of journalists.”

“WBU condemns strongly this aggression and emphasizes the need to ensure accountability,” the statement continued. “Therefore, WBU calls for a thorough, transparent, fair and impartial investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh and demands that Israel reverses its decision not to investigate the circumstances of her death.”

The death of Abu Akleh brought widespread statements of outrage from government officials around the world and comes at a time when violence against journalists has reached alarming levels. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists has identified 18 cases where journalists have been killed in 2022, including 7 in Ukraine. 

In a separate analysis Reporters Without Borders had identified 26 journalists and two media workers killed so far in 2022.  

The WBU also stressed that “the protection of journalists covering any conflict anywhere is of paramount importance to the WBU and to every global citizen who values a free press….The WBU calls for adherence to international law and guaranteeing the rights of journalists to do their work without fear, especially in conflict and war zones. No journalist should be targeted for doing their job.”

The group also expressed “our deepest condolences to Shireen Abu Akleh’s family, friends, and colleagues around the world to whom she never failed to take the time to share her warmth and passion for their lives and interests.”

TORONTO—At a time when broadcasters are facing increased security risks, the World Broadcasting Unions (WBU) has issued updated cybersecurity recommendations for media vendors’ systems, software and services.

Based on the original work by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and North American Broadcasters Association (NABA), these recommendations are intended to create a dialogue with media vendors with the goal of achieving more consistent and effective compliance with cybersecurity best practices, the WBU said. 

These recommendations can be used as an attachment to any equipment or service RFP, RFI, or RFQ to help potential buyers ascertain the cyber maturity of the product and supplier.

In releasing the new recommendations, the WBU thanked NABA members Grass Valley, Imagine Communications and Ross Video for leading part of NABA’s negotiating team and in working with Lucille Verbaere and her Cybersecurity team at the EBU on the changes.

The full Cybersecurity Recommendations are available here.  

TORONTO—As the FCC and other global organizations discuss the potential reallocation of C-band spectrum to assist with the deployment and performance of 5G technologies, the World Broadcasting Unions has released its official position on what any reallocation of the spectrum used for Fixed-Satellite Services would mean for TV and radio broadcasters around the world. In short, WBU believes it would be a significant issue.

“The recent regulatory inquiries by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on the potential reallocation of some of the existing C-band downlink allocation (5G services) is a concern for the members of the WBU,” the organization’s position paper reads. “Given the ubiquitous use of C-band spectrum around the world and its potential to provide new services, such U.S. regulatory activity will likely be pursued by other administrations. Any subsequent proposals to globally harmonize the use of these frequencies above 3600 MHz for IMT, argued for on the basis of national reallocations, do not reflect the realities of global satellite service usage.”

Among the primary concerns of the WBU in the event of spectrum reallocation is the potential compromise of existing distribution and collection systems both domestically and internationally. It believes this could be particularly impactful in countries with equatorial geography and high rainfall, which often don’t have viable FSS spectrum alternatives to provide the same level of performance. WBU also contends that some Direct-to-Home services using C-band in these regions could be affected.

The WBU also worries that in the event of reallocation for the downlink C-band spectrum, the “twinned” uplink C-band frequencies may also be tapped at some point for reallocation.

“In all likelihood, harm will be done to existing C-band users and the solutions will compromise service reliability and increase the costs to the broadcast community,” WBU states.

“While improvements in satellite technology have made the use of C-band spectrum by broadcasters more efficient and effective for both content collection and distribution, there has been real C-band traffic growth over the years, which makes this spectrum crucial to broadcasters today as it was 50 years ago.”

TORONTO—The Technical Committee for the World Broadcasting Union has unanimously voted to endorse the European Broadcasting Union’s “Technology Pyramid for Media Nodes,” a guidance that spells out the basic steps needed to comply with the SMPTE-2110 standard for audio and video transport over IP.

Similar to the USDA’s “food pyramid,” which prioritized the types of foods recommended for daily consumption, the Technology Pyramid categorizes the minimum user requirements to build and manage an IP-based media facility.

Unlike the food pyramid, however, the Technology Pyramid categorizes the building elements for an IP-facility based on current availability of technologies and the need for future standards work. Hence, media transport is at the top of the pyramid because it is the most widely available and developed standard, while security is at the bottom of the pyramid, characterizing that part of the standard as “rarely available.”

The WBU endorsed the EBU’s use of the pyramid to illustrate the current status of SMPTE-2110, adding that many aspects of the standard related to configuration, discovery and security remain unfinished.

“Broadcasters planning the move to new IP production facilities for Television or Radio should engage manufacturers with the Technology Pyramid for Media Nodes and ascertain their degree of compliance,” said Michael McEwen, Head, WBU Secretariat. “Further, the missing standards need to be completed as soon as possible so that broadcasters can make the important migration to IP with the required assurance.”

TORONTO, CANADA—A collection of international broadcasting organizations are hailing a recent decision by the governing body of global spectrum treaties, which voted to preserve UHF spectrum for over-the-air television distribution. Members of the World Broadcast Union welcomed the vote held at last month’s World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, which reserved 470-694 MHz (U.S. Chs. 14-51) for broadcasting. (See “ITU Affirms UHF for Broadcasting.”)

“The decision for a global No Change in the 470-694/698MHz band... ensures a harmonized use of the band for terrestrial broadcasting and creates favorable conditions for the continuous development of digital terrestrial television,” the WBU said in a statement.

The WBU noted that the vote gives European broadcasters the confidence to invest in “releasing the 700 MHz band and repacking the lower UHF band in order to accommodate the existing TV services. Furthermore, this will facilitate the transition to new technologies like DVB-T2 and the introduction of a wider range of high-definition programs and innovative services like interactive hybrid broadcast-broadband services.“

Further, it said that in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle-East and Asia, broadcasters will be able to invest in the rollout of digital over-the-air TV and complete their digital transitions.

“Common action concerted between all broadcasting unions at WRC was aimed to preserve the fundamental interests and universal values of the public and national broadcasters based on what make the distinctiveness of the public service: accessibility, inclusion, respect and tolerance” said Tewfik Khelladi, president of the AUB at the opening of that union’s General Assembly. “What we have achieved together at WRC will allow us to protect broadcasting services until at least 2023, making it finally possible to deploy the DTT services all around Africa within these coming years.”

Regarding North America, the WBU said “the decision to maintain the globally harmonized primary allocation to broadcasting only, broadcasters can return their focus to the unprecedented incentive auction proceeding, currently scheduled to begin in the spring of 2016. At this point in time, no one knows if the incentive auction will fail or succeed in repurposing spectrum for mobile services. Either way, the result will be driven by economics, not by speculation. With the successful outcome of WRC-15, broadcasters now have confidence to continue to invest in their future by developing, implementing, and transitioning to advanced DTT technologies.”

“Broadcasters’ cooperation and coordination before and during WRC-15 was essential for securing continued access to the UHF spectrum for over-the-air TV,” the WBU said. “They have successfully demonstrated the universal importance of terrestrial broadcasting and supported the national administrations throughout the WRC-15 negotiations.”

“With the regulatory certainty in the use of the UHF spectrum resulting from this WRC-15, the continuing cooperation will enable broadcasters from all over the world to share their knowledge and best practices to establish and further develop DTT as an essential broadcasting platform for the foreseeable future.”

WBU member, the International Association of Broadcasting, said the vote was a “remarkable acknowledgment to broadcasting for its transcendental role as an instrument for freedom of expression and information, social cohesion, dissemination of culture, entertainment and for its contribution to distribute information in case of natural emergencies.”

Michael McEwen, director general of the North American Broadcasters Association said, “Despite some pre - emptive efforts from the wireless industry to spin the facts, only a handful of countries actually support reallocation. In contrast, and despite relentless pressure from the wireless industry to reallocate ever - increasing amount s of spectrum for paid services, a much larger group of nations is opposed to such reallocation. This is in recognition of the import ance of over-the-air television, including its spectrum efficiency, its prospects of continued technological advancement, and its delivery of new services.”

The Arab States Broadcasting Union and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union also released statements of support for the World Radiotelecommunications Conference, an ad hoc body of the International Telecommunications Union.

Also see Radio World’s “Q&A: Robert Weller at WRC-15.”