DVB-I is an open standard for discovering and delivering media services so that any compatible device or display can present them to the user. In the run up to its annual DVB World conference, the DVB Project has published a guide to DVB-I aimed at business leaders, policy makers and media industry advisors. The explainer aims to describe in non-technical terms the relevance of the specification to the future of television distribution.

If the smart television home screen is now a gatekeeper, DVB-I is the key, writes Remo Vogel, the chair of the DVB Project. “DVB-I is the cornerstone of our vision for an IP-native future,” he notes. “It standardizes how IP-delivered channels are discovered and presented alongside broadcast content. As a result, a viewer’s choice isn’t dictated by platforms. Whether a channel arrives by broadcast or broadband, it appears in a unified, easy-to-navigate list.”

By adopting the standard, manufacturers can gain seamless access to online channels without relying on agreements with platform providers, while fulfilling national regulatory requirements in relation to the prominence of services of public value.

DVB-I is a specification that allows compatible devices, whether DVB-I is built in by the manufacturer or available as a separate app, to know what television services are available.

A DVB-I service list can reference services delivered by terrestrial, satellite or cable broadcast, online, by a combination of broadcast and broadband networks, or by emerging delivery technologies such as 5G Broadcast.

Service lists can be obtained from a service list registry, through an operator or broadcaster, or from locations specified by the device manufacturer or app developer.

“Presence in the service list is a guarantee of discoverability,” the DVB chair explains in the house journal DVB Scene. “DVB-I removes the risk of delisting or marginalisation, ensuring that a broadcaster’s presence is determined by compliance to standards rather than commercial leverage.”

The DVB-I specification does not dictate how services appear on screen. Manufacturers and operators retain full control of their user interface.

DVB-I offers a coherent, standards-based approach to television service discovery at a time when video distribution is increasingly fragmented across networks, platforms and devices.

It allows organisations to modernize their offerings while continuing to serve established viewer habits and respect regulatory frameworks and commercial relationships.

As television markets continue to evolve, DVB-I provides a stable foundation that can accommodate new delivery technologies, new aggregation models and new expectations for how audiences navigate services.

Whether used to maintain prominence for public service broadcasters, to simplify device integration, to support operator workflows or to anchor regulatory objectives, it represents a flexible and future-oriented framework that can help ensure television services remain discoverable, reliable and accessible regardless of how the media landscape changes.

DVB World takes place in Amsterdam on 17-18 March 2026. A DVB-I explainer for business and policy leaders is available from the dvb-i web site.

dvb.org
dvb-i.tv
slrdb.org

In a speech to the Royal Television Society, the departing director general of the BBC said the game is not over. “Don’t believe the doom mongers, the game is not up,” he said. “There is still all to play for.” Yet he will be off the pitch, looking for a new game. His departure could not come at a worse time for the BBC, which faces more challenges than ever.

“There is no inevitable death spiral: we are not simply victims of circumstance, we can shape things.”

“The BBC is in the game, a beautiful UK success story,” he said. Yet “Without intervention, without ambition, we will diminish a national asset and destroy value for the UK. Gone forever.”

“Our vision is simple: to be the only market-leading public service media organisation globally. In a club of one. Growing not declining. Our best days ahead of us.”

How does that work? The BBC wants to be the only market-leading public service media organisation in the world? It wants to see other public service media companies diminish so that it can thrive? Or it wants to define success by defining its category as being the one in which it is the last one standing?

His valedictory speech to the industry was resolutely optimistic, with no reference to the reason for his resignation. That was an editorial failure that produced an unprecedented lawsuit from the President of the United States that is still unresolved. Yet the real reason was probably that he sensed that the real challenge is yet to come.

He is leaving at a most unfortunate time for the corporation, which will be left to argue the case for the right to exist and a form of funding that will enable it to survive and thrive in the future.

Although the BBC is not under immediate threat, its position looks more precarious than at any time in its hundred-year history. Not that it will disappear, but its importance has diminished and it seems to have had no clear vision for some time.

Part of the problem is that the core purpose of the BBC, originally constituted to inform, educate, and entertain, is less clear than ever.

The former marketing man restated this as “to provide engaging, intelligent content and services which: pursue truth with no agenda, offer homegrown UK storytelling and drive the local creative economy, and help bring us together not drive us apart”.

Not exactly catchy, is it?

“These resonate with people because they are clearly in the interests of those we serve,” apparently. They are all laudable aims, but it is not clear how they are uniquely distinctive.

How they justify programmes like Bargain Hunt, other than to wake people up in time for the lunchtime news. It is not clear why the BBC needs half a dozen national television channels and ten national radio networks if the BBC iPlayer and Sounds really are the online future.

“Partnerships like Freeview have been critical,” he said. He did not mention its replacement, Freely. Sometimes what is not said is significant.

Products like iPlayer are competing successfully with international players, he said. Yet iPlayer looks very similar to many other online video services these days.

He repeated the suggestion that the iPlayer should include programmes from other public service broadcasters like Channel 4, which already carries programmes from the UKTV channels that are owned by the BBC.

Why Channel 4 would want to put its programming on iPlayer not clear, but he did concede that the BBC should not own Channel 4. It is difficult to see how it could or what benefits that would bring. Notably he did not mention ITV, which is being courted by Sky.
And no mention of Channel 5, after all that is owned by Paramount.

The BBC wants to be a world leader in the specific area of creative technology, he claimed. It has established MediaTech, bringing together its technology, product, and research and development teams as what he described as a global centre of excellence.

Yet the BBC is competing with the likes of Google, Apple, Amazon, and Netflix. The BBC may be in the game, but they are playing in a different league.

The BBC may finally recognise that the game is up for the television licence.

“We have defied gravity to stay relevant and maintain a universal reach in the face of huge shifts with these radical changes in the media market and audience behaviours, we’ve done well,” he said. “But our current funding model was designed for a different era.”

“We need change to deliver sufficient funding that’s sustainable and fair. Without reform, the BBC will no longer be able to deliver on its purposes. It will be sitting on a melting iceberg.”

The current BBC charter ends at the end of next year. He argues that rather than facing renewal every ten years, the next charter should not have an end date, although he recognises that does not mean the BBC should have an automatic right to exist.

“But the situation is clear: unless we act, we will quickly squander an unparalleled opportunity to create a stronger, more participative UK,” he concluded. “Let’s be ambitious, let’s intervene. Take a swing. If not now, when? It will be too late.”

www.bbc.co.uk

While YouTube offers opportunities for public service media organisations to reach younger audiences, it also raises concerns about revenue, visibility, platform dependency, and cultural impact. Noel Curran, the director general of the European Broadcasting Union says the key question for broadcasters is no longer whether to engage with YouTube but on what terms.

In an article on the EBU web site, the director general writes that the time when YouTube used to be seen as a marketing channel for broadcasters is over.

“Today, YouTube is not simply part of the online video ecosystem — it is part of the television ecosystem itself.”

“Recent research in the UK shows YouTube is the second most-watched media service, behind only the BBC itself.”

Maintaining a presence on YouTube is no longer about promotion. It is increasingly about public service delivery itself.

He writes that nearly all EBU members are not active on YouTube and two-thirds intend to expand their activity.

There is an argument that presence of YouTube can help fulfil the core remit of a public service media organisation.

At the same time, partnerships come at a commercial cost. The migration of both audiences and revenue towards global platforms raises serious sustainability questions.

There are also editorial implications. Trusted journalism competes with influencer commentary, political propaganda and foreign state-backed media.

It can also weaken the direct relationship between public service media and their audiences, potentially eroding shared cultural experiences.

Public service media, he suggests, must therefore strike a careful balance between working with global platforms to remain relevant and visible, while ensuring that this does not undermine the economic sustainability, editorial independence, or cultural mission that define their public value.

www.ebu.ch