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On October 3, Gordon H. Smith, the President and CEO of the National Association of Broadcaster (NBA), gave a talk titled “Seizing Opportunities During Times of Change” on consumer’s content consumption at the Okuma Auditorium. Prior to joining NAB, Mr. Smith served as a two-term U.S senator from Oregon and later as senior advisor in the Washington offices of Covington & Burling, LLP. Following in talk, a discussion also took face in which Professor Kawai from the Faculty of Science and Engineering who specialized in 3D and virtual reality served as a panelist.

In modern day society, content consumption over the internet continues to rise, serving as an alternative to traditional platforms such as television broadcast content. As people turn to the internet for news and entertainment, it poised challengers to traditional broadcasting. Nevertheless, in this evolving media landscape, broadcasters are making crucial investments in new technologies to ensure consumers can access their highly valued content, anytime and anywhere.

“Unlike the internet, we really focus on including everyone and making sure they have the information, entertainment and even the emergency warning that are so essential when faced with things like typhoons, earthquakes and other natural or man-made disaster. Younger adults [in the U.S] especially are likely to turn to the internet for their news and entertainment. Meanwhile, Americans turn to their broadcast radio and television above all other mediums in emergency situations,” said Mr. Smith on the relevance of broadcasting in the digital age.

“Surveys after surveys, the American people say broadcasting content is the one place you can turn to get just the facts. We present the public with facts and information they can trust,” stressed Mr. Smith on the high-reliability of traditional broadcasting in the present-day when fake news roam the largely unregulated internet.

Currently, works are in place in the U.S to aid transition to the Next Gen TV which utilizes ATSC 3.0, a new broadcast standard with a host of new features and technology. Using the latest broadcast standard, broadcasters will be able to send 4K UHD signals, cramming higher definition channels. In addition, having a Next Gen TV will also allow broadcasters to personalize their broadcasts, sending the most relevant information and emergency alert services targeted at specific audience.

In Mr. Smith speech, he also gave special mention on Japan Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as NHK in Japan.

“Japan’s broadcasters has consistently contributed excellent content to NAB’s Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology Conference. We called it the ‘BEIT’ Conference. We’ve done this in recent years. In fact, earlier this year NHK won the BEIT Conference’s annual Best Paper Award for its presentation on uses of artificial intelligence and television production. Our relationship serves to remain us the broadcasting is a global business and we all share the common goal to inform, educate and entertain our audience.”