Regional broadcasters prepare for Ultra High Definition

• The technical directors of all Spanish regional public broadcasters will meet in Seville in November to learn the latest in UHD at the 4K HDR Summit.

The Technical Commission of FORTA (Federation of Autonomous Radio and Television Organizations) will take advantage of the tenth edition of the 4K HDR Summit, to be held in Seville from November 11 to 14, to update its knowledge and the plans that the autonomous television stations have for the development in Spain of Ultra High Definition (UHD), the new technology that surpasses High Definition (HD).

TVE already broadcasts a channel in 4K and in 2025 Antena 3 and Telecinco will launch two channels in Ultra High Definition (UHD), which has made Spain a European leader in the deployment of this new technology, a path that could foreseeably be followed by some regional broadcasters.

The 4K HDR Summit, “Where technology and content have time to talk”, returns to Seville, this time to the Nissan Cartuja Auditorium, to once again turn Andalusia into the annual epicenter of the international audiovisual industry for two days (Monday 11 and Tuesday 12) and two virtual days (13 and 14), coinciding with the 21st edition of the Seville European Film Festival.

The 2024 edition of the 4K HDR Summit will once again feature companies, institutions and associations from Asia, the United States, Latin America and Europe, with a very prominent role for some of the most important broadcasters from around the world, such as Japan’s NHK, the British BBC, India’s Travel XP, France’s The Explorers and the U.S. broadcaster NASA, among others.

For this reason, once again this year, the Spanish regional broadcasters (FORTA) and their technical directors are holding a face-to-face Technical Commission to discuss technological advances in Ultra High Definition (UHD) and HDR (High Dynamic Range), which improve the quality of the images that reach homes, as well as the exchange of 4K content and its future implementation within their internal communication networks.

FORTA’s technical committee will review the state of the art with the latest developments in the UHD HDR field, especially with everything related to production and broadcasting systems. In this line, the latest developments in the corresponding entities will be shared by the participants of the technical committee, and the possibility of establishing different working groups to deepen in specific topics will be assessed.

In addition, this summit underlines the importance of UHD in Spain, with the involvement of entities such as UHD Spain, of which FORTA is a member, and which seeks to strengthen technological collaboration between regional and national broadcasters.

FORTA, a key player in the promotion of UHD in Spain

The Federation of Autonomous Radio and Television Organizations (FORTA) has played a relevant role in the promotion of Ultra High Definition in Spain, especially through its participation in the UHD Spain association, which is dedicated to promoting the development and adoption of UHD and HDR technologies in the country.

FORTA brings together the main Spanish regional broadcasters, and its Technical Commission is actively working on the study and adoption of new technologies. This includes the creation of an internal audiovisual and data network that is already operational for UHD. In addition, efforts have been made to improve connectivity and the exchange of 4K content among its members and with other external entities.

FORTA’s collaboration with UHD Spain has also been key in carrying out tests and studies on the transmission of UHD signals, and in preparing its technological infrastructure for future broadcasts in this format.

FORTA groups 12 regional audiovisual organizations from Andalusia, Catalonia, Madrid, Valencia, Galicia, the Basque Country, the Canary Islands, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Aragon, Asturias and the Balearic Islands.

The conferences of the 4K HDR Summit 2024 can be followed on Medina Media Events’ ‘The Observatory’ and will be available 24/365. On this platform, attendees can also schedule video meetings with other participants and speakers, in addition to exclusive virtual demonstrations.

The tenth edition of the 4K HDR Summit is organized by Medina Media Events and has the support of the Digital Agency of Andalusia (ADA), Dolby, MOME, Vicomtech, Canal Sur Radio and Television, EVS, Synamedia, Fraunhofer IIS, Axion, Mediakind, Ateme, AJA, Hispasat, Quantum, Cellnex, Eutelsat, Rohde & Schwarz, Canon, Sapec and UHD Spain, among others.