Next Week: Broadcast, Interactive, Internet and Hybrid TV in Africa (TVA): Conference and Exhibition (4-8 July 2011 at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa)

I will not be involved in this conference for the reasons set out in this weblog article.

In just one week “Broadcast, Interactive, Internet and Hybrid TV in Africa (TVA): Conference and Exhibition” (4-8 July 2011 at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa) will be underway.  The line up of speakers is impressive including:

  • Adoulkarim Soumaila, Secretary General, African Telecommunications Union
  • Henning Viljoen, United Nations Industrial Development Organization
  • Bridget Linzie, Communications Regulators’ Association of Southern Africa
  • Dr Steven Ncube, Chairman ICASA, Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
  • Phineas Moleele, CEO Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa
  • Peter Griffiths – Interactive Editor, Carte Blanche
  • CEOs and leadership from suppliers and operators including Vodacom, Multichoice, Wananachi, Huawei, Alticast, UEC, Verimatrix, BCX, Limelight, Antfarm, IMPALA, and lots more.

What’s impressed me is the seniority and breadth of presenters both nationally and internationally, with the UN Development organization, the African Telecommunications Union, all relevant regulatory bodies, operators from the fixed, mobile and broadcast industries, suppliers across the ecosystem, and content owners and producers.  Normally a conference of several thousand people is required to have such quality of attendees, while this conference enables far more successful networking and valuable conversation to be had.

The conference structure is:

  • 1 day pre-conference workshop “Evolution of TV Delivery: IPTV, Hybrid and OTT TV”
  • 2 day conference (high quality single stream conference to ensure attendees gather all information from independent experts and industry leaders)
  • In parallel a 2 day exhibition for attendees to meet local and global suppliers and discuss their specific opportunities, needs and opportunities.

I’ll be running the pre-conference workshop on “Evolution of TV Delivery: IPTV, Hybrid and OTT TV” and a presentation on the second day “Digital TV Successes and Failures.”  Markets around the world have taken a number of routes towards interactive TV.  Europe has seen intense competition and innovation with aggressive pricing in some markets.  In the US the cable operators remain dominant, copied by the telcos, yet innovation abounds from over the top providers.  In Latin America regulation has stifled innovation.  This presentation will review these successes and failures and what we can learn for the African market.  I look forward to seeing you there and sharing insights into the world’s fastest growing TV region for the next decade.