12 Jun KOBA 2013, Seoul, South Korea
With the theme of “Broadcast opens the future! Join the future wave!” KOBA is the only specialized global exhibition relating to the converging broadcast industry. The exhibition floor was expanded 12% compared to last year, reaching the size of 25,405 sqm.
839 companies from 33 countries attended KOBA. Dealing with issues for the broadcasting industry such as 4K, UHD, Smart Technology, Digital Radio, Main broadcasting equipment, broadcasting technology and related policies, the conference was expected to draw great attention from industry officials.
KOBA Digital World Forum was planned as a Special Session for the conference to highlight the issues about the transition to digital. During this half-day event, the DRM Consortium made a full presentation on the DRM standard and its recent development (Ruxandra Obreja) and DRM as Complementing DAB+ on the AM and VHF bands (Alexander Zink). DAB and HD were also presented to the audience of 60-70 officials, experts and broadcasters present. The presentations were prefaced by an introduction from the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. One of the presentations was also from KETI ( the Korean Electronics Technology Institute) that updated those present on the work they are leading on integrating worldwide radio into smart devices, a project due to deliver in the middle of 2015. Four million euros have been already allocated to the project. The presentations were followed by questions from the key broadcasters and other members of the Digital Council examining and advising on the future of digital radio in Korea. It looks like the government is now really keen to announce a digital radio system for VHF (FM). They have mainly chosen DRM for MW but the big issue is the transition to digital FM of the four major broadcasting networks: KBS (public), MBC, SBS and CBS. There seems to be a particular interest at the moment in a mixed model of DAB+ and DRM+, which would immediately provide a receiver solution for DRM+. But a real answer to the questions: which standard? – will now only be available towards the end of the year.
Ruxandra Obreja
DRM Chairman