
NAB 2025 in Review: SVG Audio Roundtable Reflects On a Changing Industry Global sports, speech intelligibility, digital microphones are on the table By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, April 14, 2025 - 10:49 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Now a staple at major industry events, the SVG Audio Roundtable (formerly the DTV Audio Group) has evolved much like the industry it supports, becoming leaner, palpably younger, and more diverse.
SVG Audio Roundtable Chair Roger Charlesworth emphasized the changing nature of sports media, especially the shift to streaming.
Gathering at NAB 2025, a group of 25 or so attendees and presenters, led by Chair Roger Charlesworth, was about half the size of some previous events and, at two hours, about half as long. But the content was just as good, with concise and informative presentations.
The Roundtable event - sponsored by Audio-Technica, Calrec, Dale Pro Audio, Dolby, the DTV Audio Group (sponsored by SVG), Lawo, Shure, and Telos Alliance - takes place off the record, with presentations and comments mostly not attributable. But trends do emerge.
It's a Global World Out There No, Yogi Berra did not say that. But one commenter who had made the transition from a conventional sports network to a streamer, did note that sports is now a global proposition, with some events reaching far beyond what has been typical, and cited the reported 65 million viewers for the Nov. 15, 2024, Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight on Netflix.
Underscoring the increasing globalization of sports media, it was noted that WBD Sports, whose Max streaming service provided Olympics coverage to Europe, delivered 90 events in 38 languages last year. Across both Max and Discovery+, Paris 2024 drove almost 1 billion streaming minutes, more than seven times that logged at the same point of Tokyo 2020 and already representing 75% of the total minutes from those Games, the broadcaster had reported earlier. That underscores, according to the commenter, the need to address audio services for sports in a broader manner.
To accomplish that, artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies will have to be part of the equation. AI could, it was established, derive as many as 50 translations from a single-language commentary - in real time. At the same time, machine-learning techniques can create auto-mix capabilities for audio, necessary to support an exponential number of new descriptive-audio streams.
The entire experience, however, will have to start with the best audio quality possible, said one participant. That includes being vendor- and codec-agnostic.
In fact, the person continued, achieving that will require the sports-media industry to rely even more on its vendors and equipment/technology developers and suppliers as technologies and formats proliferate.
A lot of what needs to be done along these lines is already a reality. The complicating factor for sports at this scale, however, is that it all needs to be done live, with as little latency as possible. As a result, another commenter noted, viewers may be more willing to forgive some types of audio glitches with live event production, not letting the pursuit of perfection limit the immediacy of live.
Feeds and Stems Among the new and improved technologies for processing audio discussed was the increasingly refined capability to separate sound sources into discrete stems. The need for this is two-fold: to enhance speech intelligibility (more people, including younger ones, are enabling closed captioning as television sound becomes more dense) and, as rightsholders become more aggressive in protecting copyrights, to strip out unauthorized and unlicensed background music.
AudioShake, whose algorithms are being used to do this in postproduction, expects to be able to accomplish those stem separations in real time later this year. Salsa Sound's representative noted that their company is working to do the same for noise reduction as well to be able to eliminate distractions, such as rain noise, during sports broadcasts in real time.
Digital microphones - the Great White Whale of pro audio - are a perennial topic at these conclaves. Efforts in that direction by Audio-Technica, Shure, and Voyage Audio (whose Spatial Mic 2nd Order Ambisonics VR microphone is currently capable of single-wire digital connectivity) were cited as making progress.
The conversation did come back to the viewers and, more specifically, to their devices - all 2 billion of them, by one estimation, none of which can accommodate and decode every possible audio format. Dolby's MS12 Multistream Decoder - which can decode virtually all worldwide and certain local broadcast standards, including Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, Extended HE-AAC with MPEG-D DRC, all AAC bitstreams (including USAC), and Dolby AC-4 - was cited as a good start for what will be a Sisyphean undertaking.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
11/02/2026
Leading provider of video streaming solutions, Bitmovin, has appointed Ian Baglow as Co-CEO alongside existing CEO and Co-Founder Stefan Lederer. Under this str...
11/02/2026
Paramount and the CBS Television Network will partner to air UFC 326: HOLLOWAY vs. OLIVEIRA 2 live on Saturday, March 7, from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, mar...
11/02/2026
Beginning February 10, fans can buy MLB.TV on ESPN, a new milestone in one of sports media's longest-standing partnerships. ESPN becomes the new streaming h...
11/02/2026
Fubo Sports Network is available to Hulu's Live TV subscribers in the core $89.99 a month subscription plan, which also includes full access to the entire H...
11/02/2026
Following a competitive public tender process, Rai (Radiotelevisione Italiana), the national public broadcasting company of Italy, has awarded Imagine Communica...
11/02/2026
Major League Baseball is making in-market streaming subscriptions for 20 Clubs available today for fans. Subscriptions for the following Clubs are available vi...
11/02/2026
Building on successful demonstrations during the Paris Olympics 2024, Italian public service broadcaster Rai and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) are condu...
11/02/2026
Following Sunday's Super Bowl LX, ESPN and Disney unveiled We're Going,...
11/02/2026
Delayed streams are a growing source of frustration for sports fans. During the 2026 Super Bowl, some streams lagged up to 62 seconds behind the action on the f...
11/02/2026
NASCAR and FloSports announces an expanded slate of racing events that will bring FloRacing coverage live throughout the 2026 season to the NASCAR Channel, furt...
11/02/2026
Manifold technologies GmbH announces the appointment of Nick Tucker as Sales Manager for Europe, reinforcing the company's continued growth across broadcast...
11/02/2026
Genies, the AI avatar technology company powering the next era of interactive digital identity, entered into a landmark collaboration with MLB Players, Inc., th...
11/02/2026
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Google have joined forces for an AI-...
11/02/2026
Dolby's CEO Kevin Yeaman and Giles Baker, SVP of Dolby Cloud Solutions, shared how the brand's latest innovations - Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and Dolby...
11/02/2026
Ilitch Sports + Entertainment has entered a first of its kind partnership with Major League Baseball, which will provide broadcast support to both the Detroit T...
11/02/2026
For major U.S. events like Super Bowl 2026, FIFA World Cup, America 250, and the...
11/02/2026
Broadcasts of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings will also be produced by the leagu...
11/02/2026
Video moves fast can your DAM keep up?
Join Blue Lucy in LA for the West Coast's leading Digital Asset Management event as we explore, celebrate, and acc...
11/02/2026
NEW YORK - February 10, 2026 - An estimated 124.9 million viewers watched Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, according to Nielsen's Big Data Panel measu...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Clear-Com provided an advanced, IP-based communications infrastructure for TEDNext 2025, supporting production, media, and editorial teams with a highly flexib...
11/02/2026
Astera introduces QuikBeam, the newest addition to its acclaimed Quik family of focusing LED Fresnels. This ultra-compact spotlight combines the equivalent powe...
11/02/2026
Following a competitive public tender process, Rai (Radiotelevisione Italiana), the national public broadcasting company of Italy, has awarded Imagine Communica...
11/02/2026
With Convertible Mount for NL Bowens & Aputure A Mounts See it at BSC Expo Stand #133 LCA
DoPchoice continues to refine light shaping tools for professional LE...
11/02/2026
World Premiere at BSC Expo, Booth #319 Oberkochen/Germany, 10 February 2026
ZEISS introduces the new Aatma, set of nine high-end full frame T1.5 cinema primes ...
11/02/2026
As Re-recording Mixer and Head of Sound at The Farm, one of UK's leading post-production facilities, Nick Fry has built his career on making stories sound a...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Graduate Spotlight: Gabrielle Rodriguez The educator, who grew up in the Philippines, shares how shes bringing what she learned at Berklee back home.
Februar...
11/02/2026
Wednesday 11 February 2026
Sky brings together Netflix, Disney , HBO Max and Ha...
11/02/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Confirms Production of Love O'Clock' From the...
11/02/2026
Back to All News
Investing in Belgian Stories: A Commitment to Culture and Choice
From left to right: Undercover, Ang le, Rough Diamonds, Into the Night, John...
11/02/2026
At the end of January, ICG headed off to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, for our annual conference.
An early flight gave us plenty of time to start exploring s...
11/02/2026
ABS Strengthens Ku-Band Capacity and Expands Regional Reach Through Strategic Pa...
11/02/2026
The intergalactic children's show starring Adam King will premiere on 14 February on RT 2, RT KIDSjr and RT Player
The Late Late Toy Show star Adam King...
10/02/2026
From San Fran to Santa Clara down to Los Angeles, ESPN celebrates the Big Game w...
10/02/2026
A team of broadcast engineers and experts dispersed across Northern Italy help broadcasters and still photographers keep shooting
OBS has put new imaging techn...
10/02/2026
If you can have the best pictures and the best sound quality for these global ev...
10/02/2026
Disney+ will add vertical video within its app this year after ESPN introduced V...
10/02/2026
GameChanger today unveiled the most comprehensive product update in its 15-year history, marking a major step forward in how families, athletes, coaches, fans, ...
10/02/2026
With a new film adaptation of Wuthering Heights arriving just in time for Valent...