TVBEuropes Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a younger, more diverse membership, and broader industry adoption of IP technologies
By Jenny Priestley
Published: March 10, 2025 Updated: March 12, 2025
TVBEurope's Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a younger, more diverse membership, and broader industry adoption of IP technologies
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
Established in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, SMPTE has published more than 800 technical standards and related documents for broadcast, filmmaking, digital cinema, audio recording, information technology (IT), and medical imaging over the past 100+ years.
Appointed as the organisation's president in January, Richard Welsh is the latest in a long line of media technologists tasked with guiding SMPTE as it navigates the ongoing changes within the industry, including the move from hardware to software, and the rise of artificial intelligence.
Richars Welsh, president, SMPTE We're still very much an international standards development organisation, which is how we started, explains Welsh, but what I think is really cool about SMPTE is that over and above that we're a really amazing technology community, and it's all about developing talent and bringing the community together to learn from each other across all the different areas of technology that we're touching in media.
Welsh describes SMPTE's membership as a very broad umbrella open to broadcasters and vendors alike. A transport protocol like SMPTE ST 2110 is implemented by vendors, but it has to be architected by broadcasters, he explains. Both parties have to work together to do that because you don't use one piece of hardware that does everything.
Even before being appointed president, Welsh was involved in engaging new members not just in the United States or UK but around the world. One of SMPTE's biggest areas of expansion currently is in India, which Welsh hopes will become its own section within the SMPTE membership. Similarly, with the UK and Europe, we are seeing an increase in membership, he adds.
In the UK, currently the fastest-growing region in SMPTE, there's been a push to reach out to members outside of London with meetings and events taking place in Manchester and Leeds. This has been driven by members of SMPTE who volunteer to run the events. In each region, you have to find people who are enthused and active and can give time to it, and nurture that local community to bring it together, states Welsh.
He cites the events being held outside London as a good example of members who want to bring their local media technology community together, under the wider umbrella and resources of SMPTE. On a global level, the network is amazing. I want to see us build on that, and take advantage of the fact that we have these incredibly dedicated individuals who are putting their time and energy into SMPTE for the good of SMPTE and the good of the community. We need to recognise it and build on it. That's how we will increase our international activity and also make us feel more global. That's not to say we're not a global organisation. We absolutely are, but it can feel US-centric.
The future of 2110 SMPTE officially ratified 2110, its standard for video, audio and metadata over IP networks, in 2017. But, like any standard, it hasn't stood still since ratification. Not only is 2110 seeing adoption in traditional broadcast workflows, but the AV industry is finding uses for the standard as well. Welsh cites the Sphere in Las Vegas, which is using 2110 to sync all the servers for its 16K x 16K screen. It's the only protocol they could make work for such a complex and critical environment. You can't have any slip there, because it's going to immediately be a problem for the audience.
But while some broadcasters and venues are embracing 2110, full adoption across the broadcast industry remains slow. Adoption is always one of the challenges. You can write a standard, but it doesn't always go the way that everyone just starts using it, he admits. I guess the nervousness covers some real concerns around reliability, robustness and security effectively.
Asked what his message would be to broadcasters who are nervous about adopting IP, Welsh says he wanted to encourage them to get more involved with SMPTE and help make the standard fit their needs. If there are gaps, then help us make the standard better. If it's something more than that and there's a bigger conversation, again, SMPTE is a great place to have that, because we bring together all these different members of the community, the vendors, the content owners, even the creatives.
Another challenge for SMPTE is moving to a more modern way of developing, publishing and maintaining standards. 2110 is in what Welsh describes as a maintenance and development phase where it can be used but also evolve along with the industry. Any standard is going to keep developing. I think the way in which we develop them will also keep evolving.
It's not just standards that are evolving, the way viewers consume content is undergoing fundamental change, and then there's the rise of immersive technologies such as extended reality and virtual reality. With the likes of IPMX emerging as a standard for the AV industry, Welsh says there are opportunities where it and 2110 can exist side by side. They have 2110 embedded in there as a timing protocol along with PTP. I think evolving it towards these next-generation formats that effectively wil
Europe Stories
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...
13/03/2026
Spotify has always been built around your taste. More than 80% of listeners say personalization is what they love most about us. Now we're taking that even ...
13/03/2026
The new Spotify Legends Club has opened its doors. Its members: select German-sp...
13/03/2026
Pushing drum sampler technology into new territories
The latest version of Klevgrand's software drum sampler has just arrived, boasting a newly designe...
13/03/2026
Expanded headphone support & engine improvements
IK Multimedia's recently introduced ARC On-Ear system brings the power of their monitoring-correction s...
13/03/2026
Extra sound collections, more presets & new Keys category
UVI's rhythm and pattern instrument has just received a major update that introduces four new ...
13/03/2026
Friday 13 March 2026
Sky Adds Blood on Snow to Original Film Slate in Acquisiti...
13/03/2026
RT has announced today that Rick O'Shea is the new presenter of Arena RT Radio 1's flagship weeknight arts and culture programme. Rick has been pres...
13/03/2026
Lights! Camera! Action! The 98th Oscars set to air live as RT backs the Irish n...
12/03/2026
Staines-upon-Thames, UK, 11th March, 2026 - Yospace, the trusted leader in Dyna...
12/03/2026
In Latin America, women are shaping music and defining its future. To kick off t...
12/03/2026
En Am rica Latina, las mujeres est n moldeando la m sica y definiendo su futuro....
12/03/2026
Let's turn back the clock 20 years: The music landscape was a world away fro...
12/03/2026
Bad Bunny is no stranger to Spotify's Billions Club. In fact, he has a whopp...
12/03/2026
Spotify was at the London Book Fair this week, joining conversations across the publishing industry about how people can make reading part of their daily lives....
12/03/2026
Mastering tool improves mono compatibility
Tokyo Dawn Labs' Ohlhorst Digital range is a series of mastering-focused plug-ins developed by Jan Ohlhorst, ...
12/03/2026
Wave FX processor integrated into four products
Lewitt have teamed up with Elgato to create a new processor for the company's Wave Next product range, i...
12/03/2026
Free tool for annotating audio files
Mix Notes is a new, free iOS App that provides users with a simple way to annotate their audio files. It's been cre...
12/03/2026
Side-chain ducking tool gets an upgrade
Devious Machines' popular side-chaining and envelope-shaping tool has just been kitted out with an improved enve...
12/03/2026
Ceremony to take place on 16 April 2026
The MPG (Music Producers Guild) have revealed the full shortlist for this year's MPG Awards, which will be takin...
12/03/2026
Emulates three classic dbx 160 variants
The latest arrival to Overloud's Gem Series plug-in range faithfully recreates not one, but three versions of th...
12/03/2026
New granular soft synth announced
Said to be their most advanced software synthesizer to date, Baby Audio's latest release has been built on a new granu...
12/03/2026
Latest version now live!
Edit 11 March 2026 - Bitwig Studio 6 is now live, and available for all to download!
The latest version of Bitwig's DAW softwa...
12/03/2026
Latest free eBook now available!
Designed for recording engineers, audio-technology students and technically minded musicians, our latest free eBook deliver...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity expands SITLine network encryptor portfolio - more...
12/03/2026
Rohde & Schwarz to showcase future-proof EMC testing solutions at EMV 2026 Rohde & Schwarz will participate in EMV 2026, Europe's premier trade fair and c...
12/03/2026
Modern media operations demand a platform that unites automation, orchestration, and human oversight without compromise. In this post, we explore the six key te...
12/03/2026
A deep dive into the platform
Architecture The Blue Lucy platform follows a distributed microservices architecture, meaning the overall operational capability...
12/03/2026
Orchestration platform enables broadcasters to deploy multiple AI models safely with full auditability, rights protection, and regulatory oversight.
LONDON, En...
12/03/2026
Wuppertal March 12, 2026
Riedel Expands Managed Technology Division in the Ame...
12/03/2026
Advanced Media Server Delivers Double the Channel Density at Half the Cost per C...
12/03/2026
The Late Late Show Show St Patrick's Day special
Dancing with the Stars f...
11/03/2026
First Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) deployment of the emergency.lu platform for refugees and their host communities' use provides dependable broadband for humani...
11/03/2026
Following a successful first series, UKTV today announces the commission of two ...
11/03/2026
Wednesday 11 March 2026
Sky and CANAL launch new partnership to develop English-language drama
Sky and CANAL are today announcing a strategic co commissioni...
11/03/2026
NTCA, Cartesian Release New Report on the Business Case for USF
March 11, 2026
Network Economics
News
NTCA - March 11, 2026 - As the FCC and Congr...
11/03/2026
TELL US YOUR (SHORT) STORIES
The 2026 RT Short Story Competition is now open for entries
Recognising and rewarding the best new Irish fiction writing for...
11/03/2026
RT 's The Traitors Ireland is among the nominees for the 2026 Celtic Media Festival Torc Awards for Excellence, announced today....
10/03/2026
10 Mar 2026
VEON's Largest Market Pakistan Almost Triples Mobile Spectrum i...
09/03/2026
Contains all six dual-ensemble libraries
VSL's Duality Strings series offers an intriguing alternative to your average string library, capturing two str...
09/03/2026
Outstanding Contribution To UK Music
Photo: Samuel Bradley
Ahead of their upcoming MPG Awards, the Music Producers Guild (MPG) have revealed the latest win...
09/03/2026
Two new high-quality DI boxes announced
Boasting some impressive technical specifications and versatile routing options, Strymon's latest active DI boxe...
09/03/2026
Latest MPE-capable Soundbox library released
The follow-up release for Sonora Cinematic's Pure Nylon has arrived, and becomes the latest addition to the...
09/03/2026
Popular wireless mic head design revived
Sennheiser have revealed that the MD 9235, a cardioid mic head designed to pair up with their handheld wireless sys...
09/03/2026
Captures two sought-after Dumble combo amps
The latest TONEX release captures a pair of sought-after Dumble amplifiers from IK Multimedia's private amp ...
TVBEuropes Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a younger, more diverse membership, and broader industry adoption of IP technologies
