The tens of thousands of content professionals who attend this year's NAB Show will see firsthand the advancements of an industry driven by technology and the evolution of an event that is itself a force to be reckoned with.
Even as the media and entertainment landscape has morphed and evolved over the years, the annual NAB Show has progressed with it. Each year, key Hollywood players, post-production professionals, broadcasters of all types — terrestrial, cable, satellite and Internet — corporate communications professionals and even game developers come to orchestrate and ink key deals at the NAB Show — to the tune of $30 billion in sales last year.
This year, the wide-ranging NAB convention continues down that road, offering the content community a mix of five separate conferences, an array of General and Super Sessions, a comprehensive training program, at least a dozen keynote addresses and a massive show floor packed with 1,500 exhibitors.
The primary goal of this year's show? To help define a smooth, clear path for an evolving industry that's looking for answers on everything from mobile TV and stereoscopic 3D to post production in a digital world and broadband video.
Making a play on its broadcast roots, the NAB introduced the term "broader-casting," recognizing the growing influence of the show's broad audience, including all those who create, manage, buy or sell, distribute or deliver audio, video or filmed content on any device — stationary or mobile. Thus, the term applies to anyone contributing to the content lifecycle no matter the platform.
This convention will be the first for new NAB President and CEO Gordon Smith, who will remind attendees that this is not your father's NAB Show.
Smith will delve into some of the ways our industry has evolved over just the past few years during his opening address, where he's expected to make clear NAB's stance on several key business and policy issues — be it the debate over broadcast spectrum or the ongoing discussion over performance fee legislation.
THE NEXT BIG THING
With the excitement of the DTV transition behind it, the broadcast industry is looking toward the next big thing. And that looks to be mobile TV.
While at last year's NAB Show, the industry was touting a four-screen world: the big-picture screen, the computer screen, the television screen and the mobile screen, "even this is changing," said Chris Brown, NAB executive vice president of Conventions and Business Operations.
"Mobile now comes in all kinds of different flavors and we have generations of new mobile devices and platforms," he said.
Momentum for television viewed on mobile devices is in full swing, led in part by the Open Mobile Video Coalition, an alliance of commercial and public broadcasters. Experts say the technology has the potential to generate $70 billion over the next 15 years, giving viewers an experience akin to HDTV.
It's now up to broadcasters, content creators and advertisers to work together to decide how to take advantage of that potential.
The new batch of mobile devices is expected to pique the interest of broadcasters and content developers alike.
"For us, within the context of the broader multiplatform delivery trend, it will be huge," Brown said. "Emerging consumer devices will certainly be a big part of that."
Answers can be found at the Mobile DTV Marketplace, hosted in the main lobby, where attendees can see the myriad consumer devices available to provide mobile over-the-air television delivery. On the convention floor, the Mobile DTV Pavilion in the South Upper Hall will include exhibitors who are making content for these devices.
Likewise, a number of sessions will address everything from the basics of mobile TV to issues surrounding revenue streams. As part of the Broadcast Engineering Conference, NAB will offer a day-long "Mobile Television" session. Mobile will also be the focus in sessions such as "Mobile: The 7th Medium" and "Mobile DTV: Revving the Engines and Ready to Go."
PUT ON THOSE GLASSES
On the show floor, attendees will also see a strong emergence of 3D technologies. This is the second year for the NAB Show's 3D Pavilion, located in the South Lower Hall, which will showcase digital cinema products, consumer eye wear and 2D-to-3D conversion technologies. The 3D Pavilion has doubled in size since its introduction last year.
There will also be a strong focus on 3D production, with attendees able to see the latest developments from Hollywood at the Content Theatre.
Networks dedicated to programming in 3D — such as The Discovery Channel and ESPN — will be represented in the Content Theater as well as Super Sessions such as Wednesday's "The Business and Technology of Sports Broadcasting: From Mobile Devices to 3D," sponsored by Level 3 Communications.
NEW DIRECTIONS
More than ever before, the NAB Show continues to branch out in new directions. A major new feature on the exhibit floor will be Destination Broadband. This exhibit area in the South Hall encompasses a pavilion and related exhibits that cover the latest innovations in online video creation and distribution.
"It will hit everything from Internet-connected television — that works without the box — right down to the real, practical interactive television technologies: the widgets," Brown said. "And then it's all the companies that enable the ecosystem, including the content distribution networks and some of the other service providers." Also on the exhibit floor, digital production will get a boost from exhibit areas such as the new Post Pit, a meeting and presentation space for users of post-production software and hardware.
NAB has also expanded its technology-based pavilions, introducing the International Research Park, which highlights research and development work; the ATSC TechZone, which showcases ongoing standards-related work and the Mobile DTV Pavilion.
The show will also welcome a bevy of new exhibitors — with more than 200 companies exhibiting for the first time, as well as established exhibitors like Avid, Sony, Panasonic, JVC and Grass Valley.
There are new elements on the conference side as well, with the major new addition being the Broader-casting Conference, an extensive program that focuses on next generation platforms and technologies from a business, creative and technical standpoint. Finally, the convention will introduce two awards programs: 48-Hour Film Project's "best of" Filmapalooza and the first annual Telly Awards Hall of Fame honoring outstanding video content made for a variety of mediums including television, nonbroadcast and the Web.
Mary Ann Melody contributed to this report.