IBC 2026 Technical Conference Highlights

IBC 2026 Technical Conference Highlights

David Kirk September 28, 2026

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Hero image courtesy Deposit Photos

David Kirk reports from the 11-14 September 2026 International Broadcasting Convention

Held in mid September at the RAI Amsterdam convention centre, the International Broadcasting Convention is Europe's longest established exhibition of media technology hardware, software and services. Attendance was slightly down this year and exhibitor numbers indicate considerable churn but the event as a whole retained its focus and sparkle. The following report is a selection of IBC technical conference presentations highlighting the issues currently of central interest to broadcasters. Don't expect an easy read; the technology is advancing fast.

Unified broadcast control Georg F rst (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, ORF) promoted the advantages of unified broadcast control - From heterogeneous record and playout systems to a unified control room solution at ORF:

In modern broadcast environments, efficient and adaptable control room systems are essential. Traditional multi-system architectures can raise operational complexities and service demands, while the reduction in staff necessitates solutions where one operator can efficiently oversee multiple playout and recording tasks concurrently. A novel solution implemented by ORF unifies file management, recording, and contribution playout within a single application, aimed at minimising interface complexity and optimising operations.

The selected approach involves renewing and consolidating video server infrastructures and establishing a uniform device type, which simplifies maintenance, reduces support requirements, and enhances cross-departmental expertise. Consequently, the new architecture sets a standard for ORF's technical infrastructure, strengthening both the robustness and scalability of TV production, facilitating sustainable high-quality content production, and improving organisational resilience amid shifting demands. Successful rollout and interest from other broadcasters suggest promising prospects for broader adoption as a benchmark model in future control room environments.

From the outset, the project team pursued the guiding principle of minimising the number of controls visible during live operation while ensuring that all necessary functions remained accessible. Accordingly, an early design decision was made to provide extended configuration options through collapsible tabs and right-click context menus. This approach ensures that operators are presented with only the essential controls during a production, while retaining full access to the complete functional scope within a single application during pre- and post-production phases.

The Player offers a robust interface with tabs like Player Window, Playlist (Cliplist), Recorder and Marker, allowing users comprehensive control over video and audio playback. Essential operations include starting playback, managing playlist associated with the channel (Cliplist), recording, with functionalities like synchronous playback and clip customisation through subclip creation.

The Window Channel consists of a lot of features which can be opened by the operator as needed. It ensures that operators are presented with only the essential controls during a production, while retaining full access to the complete functional scope if needed. See Figure 1. The WebRTC Player provides a preview of the injected clip and is showing the channel output of the server. Other functions are to open the Media Base View (with the file directory) to access and organise files or to show the remaining disk space on the server.

The new architecture establishes a benchmark for the technical infrastructure of ORF control rooms and enhances both the robustness and scalability of daily television production.

AoIP-based audio production T. Onishi and M. Okano (Japan Broadcasting Corporation, NHK) addressed the subject of Feasibility and deployment strategies for cloud-based AoIP audio consoles.

Demand for flexible and resource-efficient broadcast production continues to increase, particularly in facilities with constrained technical resources. IP-based and distributed production workflows have been widely discussed as alternatives to traditional facility-centric architectures, and cloud-based production models have emerged as potential options for selected workflows. However, migrating broadcast-grade audio systems to cloud environments presents significant technical challenges.

Public-cloud environments exhibit characteristics that complicate the direct application of conventional AoIP architectures. Network traffic paths are dynamically managed to support load balancing and fault tolerance, they cannot be treated as static or topology-specific. Packet delay variation is influenced by multi-user resource contention rather than nominal bandwidth alone. In addition, native IP multicast routing, assumed by professional AoIP systems, is not inherently supported in public-cloud networks and typically requires additional service components or architectural adaptations, which tend to be expensive to introduce.

Two principal approaches can be considered for synchronising time across geographically separated sites: 1. Deploying a PTP Grandmaster (GM) at each site and operating independent PTP domains, or 2. Extending a single PTP domain by transporting PTP from one site to the other using a single GM.

While the second approach can be effective in dedicated network environments, transporting PTP across networks with unstable jitter characteristics (such as 5G systems or best-effort public networks) remains challenging. The lack of multicast support in public-cloud environments further limits the practicality of this approach, even with dedicated connectivity. Applying A

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