The principles - which are supported by Disney, Microsoft, Viacom, CBS, Fox, NBC Universal, Veoh Networks Dailymotion and MySpace - serve as a set of guidelines to help user-generated content (UGC) services and content creators work together towards their “collective goal� of bringing more content to more consumers through legitimate channels. The signatories say the principles acknowledge a collective respect for protecting copyrights and recognise that filtering technologies must be effective and are only a part of what is necessary to achieve this goal.

The principles call for a broad range of constructive and cooperative efforts by copyright owners and UGC services. They include: - Implementation of state of the art filtering technology with the goal to eliminate infringing content on UGC services, including blocking infringing uploads before they are made available to the public; - Upgrading technology when commercially reasonable; - Cooperating to ensure that the technology is implemented in a manner that effectively balances legitimate interests, including fair use; - Cooperation in developing procedures for promptly addressing claims that content was blocked in error; - Regularly using the technology to remove infringing content that was uploaded before the technology could block it; - Identification and removal of links to sites that are clearly dedicated to, and predominantly used for, the dissemination of infringing content; and, -Promotion of content-rich, infringement-free services by continuing to cooperatively test new technologies and by collaboratively updating these principles as appropriate to keep current with evolving developments.

The ease of uploading video content on the Internet has led to the creation of millions of original works by new creators, but it also has resulted in the proliferation of uploaded content that infringes copyrighted works. The companies backing these principles believe that they can collectively find a path that fosters creativity while respecting the rights of copyright owners.

“These principles offer a road map for unlocking the enormous potential of online video and user-generated content. Cooperation among us, aided by emerging technologies, can clear the way for further growth in the availability of online video in ways that will be good for consumers, good for copyright owners and good for uploading services,� said Bob Iger, president and CEO, Disney.

The participating companies believe that the principles reflect a strongly-held commitment to work cooperatively and constructively across industries to address the challenge of developing new modes of distribution while protecting intellectual property and, with a shared goal of promoting a rich, legitimate, and compelling environment for consumers of online content. And while the supporters’ current practices may not strictly adhere to each and every principle, they are all committed to fully implementing these principles by year’s end.

The companies are of the view that adopting such principles is essential to achieving the enormous potential opened up by the Internet through UGC services, and have urged others to embrace them.

Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, commented: "The cross-industry dialogue that resulted in these principles is an important step forward in establishing the Internet as a great platform for video content - a platform that allows services to innovate and preserves incentives for all creators, big and small, by respecting copyright. With this new, consensus-based foundation, the technology and entertainment industries are demonstrating how we can work collaboratively to build great new video experiences for our mutual customers."

Widespread adoption of these principles will, according to the signatories, encourage innovation, enabling new creative expression and furthering the goal of eliminating infringing content from UGC services. They also claim that it will allow innovative business models to develop, and that consumers will also benefit by encouraging further cooperation between the creators of content - from the largest entertainment company to the individual artist - and the companies that distribute their works, though it would appear to be somewhat ambitious on the part of the signatories to convince the consumer that the denial of free access to thousands of hours of free material will be to their benefit.

Nevertheless, a few of the leading lights from the signatories pedalled the ‘positive for consumers’ pitch. Most notably Peter Chernin, president and COO, Fox, who commented: “In the end, technical innovation has always proved to be a positive driver in shaping our businesses and spurring greater and more robust distribution models. The principles unveiled today underscore that conviction by enabling a path that will reward content owners, distributors, and most importantly, consumers.�

Philippe Dauman, president and CEO, Viacom, went further still in accentuating the positive for consumers: “We are delighted that so many leading companies have come together behind a set of principles that provide a framework for intellectual property to live in harmony with technical advances. These principles will enable innovative technology and great content to come together to spur greater innovation and, most importantly, much richer entertainment experiences for consumers.�

The IBC conference and exhibition is run by the industry for the industry and offers expertise and opportunities in the fields of content creation, management and delivery.

Last year, the event attracted over 40,000 attendees from more than 130 different countries, with the exhibition taking up 12 halls of the RAI centre in Amsterdam, with over 1,200 of the industry's leading companies exhibiting.

The conference programme is crafted around focused theme days to provide insight into the most important business and technology factors influencing our industry.

The theme day subject areas this year include broadband networks and IPTV, multimedia services for our new ‘digital lifestyles’, production and protection of all types of content and the latest advances in global broadcasting including super-HDTV, digital cinema and big screen displays.

Have your popcorn handy

The big screen experience will return to IBC this year, including digital cinema. As usual, from Friday to Sunday, the IBC Big Screen will be made available for the leading suppliers in the industry to demonstrate their latest developments.

At IBC2006, Arri, Autodesk and Doremi were among those on show, along with the latest projector technologies from Christie and Sony. But perhaps the biggest interest was the first footage from the 4k camera from Red Digital Cinema, based on its own Mysterium sensor. This caused a sensation at NAB with just a mock-up on display. Now the company has selected IBC to premiere its launch demonstrations.

The IBC Big Screen features excellent surround sound as well as the finest digital projection using state-of-the-art technology in a digital cinema built just for IBC in the RAI Auditorium. Like all product showings in the IBC Big Screen, the movie presentations are free to all IBC visitors, but seats are limited so it’s best to get there early.

On Monday there will be a full day conference focused on digital cinema, with the European Digital Cinema Forum taking place the following day.

New technology campus

Since 1994, IBC has staged its new technology campus as a forum where research organisations can present and demonstrate their interim or final technical findings to the IBC delegates. 2007 will see presentations by a number of European Commission sponsored projects covering interactive content authoring, content protection and security, 3D television and services for portable/mobile devices.

With so much content now held on computer servers, metadata is of vital importance if the right content is to be identified. The MPEG-21 standard has been developed for this and will be featured in some of the demonstrations.

Mobile moving outwards

The Mobile Zone at IBC was established in 2005, and with mobile technology still a hot talking point, it is growing from strength to strength. This year, the Mobile Zone will grow to occupy most of Hall 12, featuring a host of companies showcasing the latest developments in mobile TV services and devices.

IPTV in the zone

A brand new inclusion for 2007 is the IPTV Zone – a collaborative effort between IBC and IT Europa in recognition of the importance of emerging IPTV technologies. This will also be situated in Hall 12, alongside the Mobile Zone, and will play host to the organisations and technologies emerging as major forces in this up-and-coming market. Application developers, content providers and technology companies will all be present to showcase their capabilities.

Where and when

The IBC 2007 conference and exhibition will once again take place at the RAI Centre in Amsterdam. The conference runs from Thursday 6th to Monday 10th September, and the exhibition from Friday 7th to Tuesday 11th September. For further details, and to register, visit www.ibc.org

The implications of this for the industry in terms of the provision and acquisition of the right equipment to meet the demands and needs of viewers in the future, as well as what to do about the lack of a cohesive training structure within the industry, were addressed on the second day of the BroadcastAsia conference.

But before all that, allow me to round out what went on in the latter part of day one.

As I mentioned in my first posting, IPTV was the main focus of day one. And, according to Jeffrey Soong, CEO of IPTV content technology provider BNS Ltd, Asia is currently IPTV’s growth engine. This, he said, is thanks primarily to the dominant home access enjoyed by the region’s telcos compared to cable and satellite providers.

He also remarked on how primetime was now anytime, thanks to timeshift capabilities, as well as how critical it was to IPTV’s uptake that the set-top box required for viewing was heavily subsidised by the provider.

Soong also touched on how content creation has changed markedly, with the consumer now empowered with the means to provide their own video content. He emphasised this by quoting an unexpected source in actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who recently remarked: “Thanks to the creation of the cellular phone, nearly everyone in the world is a cinematographer and thanks to YouTube, now every one of those cinematographers has a video in release.�

Later, during a panel discussion on the same subject, Graham Cradock, executive VP and general manager Asia-Pacific for Tandberg Television, spoke of his experience as a consumer of IPTV in his home in Hong Kong, which is currently one of the most advanced IPTV markets in the world.

“Up until now they have been attempting to replicate what is on cable and satellite to the degree that the consumer would be hard pressed to tell the difference, but they are slowly introducing more IPTV specific services. For example, I can now view movie trailers and book tickets to see a particular movie at my local cinema through my television. Video On Demand is also becoming popular.�

I could go on talking about day one, which I expect will turn out to be the most information and statistic-heavy day of the entire conference, but I don’t have a lot of space in this blog and I have still to move onto day two so for further details be sure to order your copy of the next issue of our print title, which will be out in August.

As I mentioned at the top of the page, day two reviewed the dramatic changes taking place in the industry and how broadcasters and suppliers are reacting to the situation.

Presented by the IABM (International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers), the morning sessions were more discussion-based rather than solo presentations, with a cross section of the industry participating in a frank and revealing assessment of the current state of play and how the industry should approach the future.

One of the biggest problems at the moment is that lack of structured industry training, with the rapid-changing nature of the industry exacerbating the problem.

During a panel discussion on the likely technology changes that will impact the Asia-Pacific market in the next three years, Wayne Heads, director of the ABU (Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union) expressed his concern over the apparent reluctance on the part of broadcasters to address this vital issue.

“If organisations are unwilling to put time and money into training, where do you go? Broadcasters have this great new range of equipment but quite often it is only being used at 10 percent of its capability because of a lack of training.�

While all this was going on, away at the other end of the Singapore Expo, the mobile TV forum was taking place.

I managed to make my way over there earlier in the morning to hear Dr Chrichton Limbert, who is head of news production modernisation at the BBC, give an interesting chat on what content producers will have to do in the mobile future.

He said that while the provision by the audience of user-generated content was a welcome addition in these times of strict budgetary controls, it was also critical that they checked the authenticity of any such content in the most rigorous fashion, as there were always people out there trying top catch them out with a bogus story.

Then Nokia’s Pawan Gandhi outlined how the Asia-Pacific market has demonstrated great momentum for mobile TV services, which he said would result in consumers in the region getting access to “personal television� faster than many other places in the world.

That’s it from BroadcastAsia, but for a comprehensive review of the 2007 BroadcastAsia and CommunicAsia conference and exhibition be sure to pick up a copy of the August edition of Broadcast + Media magazine. To subscribe, just follow the link on the website.