One of the first activities undertaken by the MBT Association was the organization of international expert workshop “What is the future of terrestrial broadcasting?”. The workshop consisted of two parts and was held online on 19th May 2021 in the form of a webinar.
The first part discussed the future of television, technological, regulatory, and other challenges facing terrestrial television operators in the region. In addition to the invited lecturers Darko Ratkaj, senior project manager from EBU (European Broadcasting Union) and Lars Backlund, Secretary General of BNE (Broadcast Network Europe), the panel was attended by the representatives of broadcasting operators from the region; Antenna Hungaria from Hungary, JP Emisiona tehnika i veze from Serbia, Radiocom from Romania, Digea from Greece, Radio-difuzni centar d.o.o. from Montenegro, JP Makedonska radiodifuzija from Northern Macedonia, RTV Slovenija Oddajniki in zveze from Slovenia and OIV from Croatia.
Darko Ratkaj presented the current status and further development of the new 5G Brodcast transmission system, which can support new types of audio-visual media services and enable new business models for TV broadcasters and network operators, while Lars Backlund spoke about the challenges of the frequency spectrum, which is used for terrestrial television and is the primary resource for its survival, also mentioning the preparations for the next world radiocommunication conference in 2023. The representatives of broadcasting operators from the region presented the status of digital terrestrial television in their countries.
The second part of the workshop was dedicated to radio, primarily broadcasting in DAB+ technology, with the support of WorldDAB organization. The main topic was how to launch a successful DAB+ project from the business perspective of network operator and broadcaster as well. After introductory lectures by Peter Hannon, President of WorldDAB, Carsten Zorger, Director of Digitalradio Büro Deutschland and Bojan Ramšak, Head of RTV Slovenia and Oddajniki in zveze Development Team, the representatives of broadcasting operators from the region presented the status of DAB+ radio in their countries and exchanged knowledge and experiences related to the successful implementation of digital radio through the discussion with the invited lecturers.
The webinar was streamed live so that all the interested experts from Croatia and Europe, such as representatives of radio and TV broadcasters, national regulators, scientific institutions, manufacturers of transmitting equipment and many others could watch it.
During the webinar, MBT Association presented a humanitarian action to help Radio Sisak and Radio Petrinja, which were severely damaged in the earthquakes at the end of 2020.
The webinar was moderated by Tigran Vržina, President of the MBT organization, and Dubravka Duilo, Secretary of the MBT Association.