IBC’s Accelerator Programme Targets New Media Innovations

Eight proof-of-concept demonstrations of innovative solutions developed for the IBC Accelerator Programme that address complex business and technology challenges will be presented Sept. 8-11 as part of IBC’s digital Showcase online series.

Led by IBC, the program promotes agile innovation. Content providers, including broadcasters, studios, news agencies and content platforms, which IBC has dubbed “Champions,” identify challenges to be addressed, IBC said.

Project teams, dubbed “Participants,” made up of vendors, suppliers and solutions providers, examine the challenges and fast-track development of solutions, it said.

“The ultimate goal of the Accelerator program is to provide a supportive and trusted environment to foster innovation across the sector, finding solutions to challenges that any one organization cannot easily solve by themselves,” said Mark Smith, who leads the Accelerator Programme at IBC. “The program has really come into its own during these challenging times and has become a framework to serve and connect global organizations working remotely and virtually.”

The solutions will be presented online live during sessions that demonstrate and discuss how the challenges were addressed.

The eight projects include:

• 5G Remote Production—Development of 5G architectures and workflows, research of broadcast use cases and exploration of virtual cloud production, gateway devices and AI-assisted cameras and lighting. Champions: BBC (Lead), Al Jazeera, BT Sport, EBU, ITV, Olympic Broadcast Services, SVT, TV2, ViacomCBS and Yle. Participants: Aviwest, LiveU, Mobile Viewpoint, NewTek and Sony.
• TV Delivered as Objects—Examination of TV distributed via IP with the assembly of program components as close to viewers as possible to enable personalization of TV service elements based on streaming, cloud and web technologies. Champions: ITV (Lead), BBC, Unity Technologies, TV2 and Yle. Participants: Dazzl, Eluv.io, Grass Valley and Singular.
• AI-Assisted Shot List Creation of Video Assets—Automation of the process of producing raw and edited content shot lists with the help of AI for news agencies and broadcasters to enhance accuracy and efficiency of selecting the best shows for news production. Champions: The Associated Press (Lead), Al Jazeera and ETC (Entertainment Technology Centre of University of Southern California). Participants: Limecraft, Metaliquid and Vidrovr.
• AI in Live Content Moderation—Proving the potential value of real-time AI-driven content moderation for live broadcast content, including social media, at scale, as well as the ability to monitor for regulatory compliance and editorial standards. Champions: Al Jazeera (Lead), The Associated Press, Reuters, RTÉ and ETC (Entertainment Technology Centre of University of Southern California). Participants: Metaliquid, TVU and TV Conal.
• CG Animation Production — New immersive and real-time workflows. A rethink and redesign of CG production pipelines to create a transformative XR, VR and AR workflow that will hasten creation of animated content, democratize the process and make it artist-friendly, nimble and collaborative. Champions: Unity Technologies, Unreal Engine/Epic Games and Sky XR Studios. Participants: AEON Productions, Blue Zoo Animation Studio, MasterpieceVR, Instalod, Tvori and the National Film Board of Canada.
• Usable VFX Archive — Automation of 3-D component archiving to realize and exploit the value of VFX for film, TV and games. Champions: MovieLabs (Lead), Unity Technologies, Universal Studios, Paramount Studios and Sony Innovation Studios. Participants: Atmecs, Perfect Memory and Vidispine.
• Virtual and Interactive Live Music Talent Show — Transposing existing traditional talent show and new music discovery formats into a cutting-edge platform with real-time, multi-user digital and virtual broadcasts, user-generated content interactivity and an ethical AI backend to protect fans and showcase more music talent. Champions: MTV International/ViacomCBS Warner Music (Leads). Participants: Joi Polloi, Never.No and Grabyo.
• 5G Centralized Streaming for London-based Virtual Reality (LBVR) — An advanced, high-performance 5G network via Telenet/Liberty Global to connect real-time centralized graphics and special XR computing power into an E2E solution operations system to stream premium, immersive VR content to head-mounted displays. Champions: Telenet/Liberty Global (Lead) and Park Entertainment. TV technology