ABU Urges Governments to Protect Broadcasting's Future

By Doug Lung
published

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.”


Doug Lung
Doug Lung

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack.
A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.