TORONTO—Clyde Smith, former senior vice president, New Technology, Fox Network Engineering and Operations, will receive the NABA International Achievement Award Feb. 5 during the NABA Annual General Meeting at NBCUniversal in New York.
“Clyde’s engineering innovation and technology leadership was always focused on who was doing it best and what we can do to make it work for all of us,” said NABA President Richard Friedel, executive vice president, Technology Strategy, 21st Century Fox. “Clyde is a global thinker and followed the Marshall McLuhan principle of ‘think globally and act locally.’”
Smith, who recently retired from Fox, continues to offer valuable insight and advice to the television industry, NABA said. Prior to joining Fox, Smith held positions with Turner (TBS) and Lockheed Space Operations, where he worked on transport and communications systems for the Space Shuttle after the Challenger accident.
A Life Fellow of the SMPTE and an Honorary Member of the IABM, Smith’s extensive list of honors include an Emmy, Broadcasting and Cable’s Technology Leadership award, the SMPTE Progress Medal and the David Sarnoff Medal.
The award recognizes the technical leadership Smith provided at Fox, Turner and Lockheed as well as the work he has done with NABA colleagues developing common metadata and specifications for file formats. Smith developed relationships with the U.K.’s Digital Production Partnership and the European Broadcasting Union to develop these specs to facilitate global program exchange.
In North America the specs have been included in SMPTE’s IMF Specifications and BXF Standards with UHDTV expected this year, NABA said.
NABA presents its International Achievement Award to an individual for an “outstanding contribution” to the international art and/or science of radio or television that has made a “significant impact on, or improvement in” the state of one or both of these arts.
“It has been my privilege to work closely with the talented and dedicated staff and members of NABA as well as the DPP, EBU, SMPTE and BBC to develop fundamental improvements in Interoperability,” said Smith upon learning that he was selected for the award. “I am deeply thankful for their participation, contributions and for this prestigious recognition of our achievements together.”
