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Kieran Colvert

The focus of the global broadcasting industry is on Hong Kong this week with the opening of Asia Broadcast 97, an exhibition and conference aimed at showcasing the latest broadcasting technology.

   The four-day event, subtitled The Asian Sound, Film and Video Exhibition, opens today at the Convention and Exhibition Centre extension.

  There are 176 exhibitors from 18 countries, including most of the leading names in broadcast technology - Sony, Avid, Canal, DVB, Chyron, Hongkong Telecom, Philips, Quantel, Sony and Tektronix.

  Their products reveal the industry is on the verge of a new era.

   Analogue technology - still used in older television and radio stations - will be out and digital production and transmission technology, high-definition and interactive television systems, and a liberal dose of virtual reality will be in.

  The exhibition homes in on digital technology. Sony is using the exhibition to showcase for the first time its new multi- channel digital transmission system, the first end-to-end broadcast system from a single manufacturer.

  Hongkong Telecom Interactive Multimedia Services plans to demonstrate its new interactive television service - iTV.

  This turns Hong Kong televisions into an all-in-one multimedia nexus providing video- on-demand, home shopping, home banking, music-on-demand, karaoke and Internet access.

  Alongside the exhibition, the organisers, Hong Kong Exhibition Services, are staging Asia Broadcast 97 Conference. Its theme is Digital Broadcasting - Making it Work For You.

  'The conference emphasises practical solutions to the problems facing broadcasters in their move to the new digital technologies,' said Tim Kelly, engineering division controller at Television Broadcasts (TVB), and chairman of the conference committee.

 About 35 speakers representing most of the major exhibitors will make presentations during the conference.

  'The digital age has hit the Asian broadcast industry,' Mr Kelly said.

  'Digital technology offers a wide variety of benefits, but implementation requires care and consideration.

  'That is why our forum on the new technology is so important to the industry in Asia.'   He said the advantage of such a large-scale exhibition and conference was that prospective buyers of broadcast technology could compare the latest products on offer and get a better overall picture of their relative merits.

  Kwok Luen-lam, chief TV engineer at Wharf Cable, said the event would provide an opportunity for networking which was vital in any industry.

   'Building relationships among the membership of the professional television broadcasting and film industry is a key ingredient in ensuring success in any rapidly changing technological environment,' he said.

  This is the second time the event has been held in Hong Kong. The first was in 1991, but the organisers hope it will become a bi-annual event, alternating with its sister show in Singapore.

  'We hope it will serve as the definitive event for Asia and for the industry in future, alternating with Broadcast Asia in Singapore,' said Leah Chung, PR manager for Hong Kong Exhibition Services.

  She said HKES was in a good position to ensure excellent attendance levels at the event as it had built up a large visitor base as a result of running the Singapore event.

  It also had promoted the event with direct-mail programmes and advertisements in trade publications on the mainland, in Macau, Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines.

  The event is also running in conjunction with two other major exhibitions related to the communications industry - Asia CommuniTech and Asia Networks 97 - so that the latest technology of communications, networking and broadcasting is dealt with and displayed under the same roof.

  Ms Cheung said although the events were running at the same time, they were in different sections of the hall. This was because some exhibitors, such as Hong Kong Telecom, had telecommunications and broadcasting products on show.

  The event has also garnered industry support, including China Entertainment Television Broadcasts, Hong Kong's two terrestrial TV stations, Wharf Cable, Star TV, and Radio Television Hong Kong.



Digital focus on technology