German DVB-I Pilot wins IBC innovation award

The winner of the IBC 2023 Special Award for Innovation is the German DVB-I Pilot, an initiative bringing together multiple stakeholders from the German media industry, including broadcasters, device manufacturers, software providers and research institutions.

Published as an open standard by ETSI, the specification Service Discovery and Programme Metadata for DVB-I provides an internet-centric mechanism to signal and discover television services, whether delivered over IP networks or traditional broadcast networks, and allows them to be presented in a unified manner. Any suitable receiver – from TV sets to personal consumer devices – can display service lists and electronic programme guides (EPGs) using information provided in XML format. Having a single data format that is compatible with all potential receiver types means reduced workflow costs and complexity.

The first phase of the German DVB-I Pilot, which ran from September 2022 to March 2023, aimed to develop a common understanding of the functionality of DVB-I and explore how it could serve the changing requirements of the German television market. Planning for a second phase is already well advanced.

DVB-I at IBC2023
Visitors to next month’s IBC Show in Amsterdam will have an opportunity to see the German DVB-I Pilot in action. Demonstrations are planned for both the DVB booth (1.B73) and that of the European Broadcasting Union (10.D21). The ceremony for the IBC Innovation Awards will take place during the exhibition, in the Premier Lounge at 18.00 on Sunday, 17 September.

The organizations involved in the project include: ARD (Association of Public Broadcasting Corporations in the Federal Republic of Germany), Bayerische Medien Technik GmbH, Dolby Laboratories, DVB Project, European Broadcasting Union, Fraunhofer FOKUS, LG, Media Broadcast, MIT-xperts, ProSiebenSat.1 Media, OnScreen Publishing, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB), RTL Deutschland, SES, Sofia Digital, Sony Corporation, TARA Systems, TP Vision, Vestel, WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) and ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen). DVB