IBC2026 Awards Nominations

AI multi-camera sports production

DMC Production, in partnership with Studio Automated (a Broadcast Solutions company), has developed an AI-driven multi-camera production system. Traditionally reliant on OB trucks and large crews, live production has limited accessibility for lower-tier competitions. This project demonstrates a new approach, successfully producing a full live football match for TV 2 Norway using five AI-operated cameras and one manned camera.

Editing before the shoot ends: New production model

Developed by NEP Europe, ITV Studios Netherlands and Limecraft for The Voice of Holland, this project refactored post production for high volume entertainment formats by shifting key editorial processes upstream into live production. With support from Avid, EditingTools.io and EVS.

Eurovision 2026: Cinematic live production

For Eurovision Song Contest 2026, host broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk chose to replace traditional broadcast cameras with ARRI Alexa 35 Live cameras across the entire production, bringing greater dynamic range and allowing shallower depth of field -- a move not previously attempted at this scale. Technical supporters: LiveEdit, NEP Europe, Riedel, Sennheiser and Skaarhoj.

How Collective Newsroom powers BBC India

When regulatory change required BBC journalism for Indian audiences to be produced by an Indian-owned company, Collective Newsroom was established by ex-BBC journalists and faced a challenge to build a unified, multilingual production operation from scratch against a fixed deadline. Collective Newsroom partnered with nxtedition, with support from Adobe, BBC, Blackmagic Design, Calrec, Ideal Systems and Ross Video.

AI-enhanced agentic AutoCut for audio highlights

Ready for FIFA World Cup 2026: Broadcasters need football highlights within minutes, not hours. To solve this challenge, WDR/ARD Sportschau and the EBU collaborated with deliver.media to redesign the aircheck. platform into an AI-enhanced AutoCut audio highlights system optimised for football commentary. 

Maximising efficiency and quality for reality formats

Could a non-stop production of the scale of Talpa Studios’ daily reality format De Bondgenoten be rebuilt from the ground up, without compromising content quality and never missing a broadcast day? Talpa turned to NEP Automated Reality Workflow, a production architecture developed by NEP and built on AirFrame Fabric from Media-Anywhere, with Adobe Premiere Pro as the editorial environment.

Media eXchange Layer (MXL)

The Media eXchange Layer (MXL) project is an open-source initiative established by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) as a collaborative endeavour supported by the Linux Foundation. It forms a core component of the broader Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) vision incubated by the EBU and is now a recognised direction for the industry.

Story-template-driven news production

RTL Deutschland's newsroom transformation project redefined how editorial and studio automation workflows work together at scale. Octopus Newsroom delivered a unified platform using story-template-driven workflows, embedding automation, graphics and production intelligence directly into stories for new show Deutschland am Morgen from RTL and ntv. The implementation was carried out in partnership with LOGIC Media Solutions.

Formula E Strategy Agent powered by Google

Formula E and Google Cloud co-developed the autonomous Strategy Agent AI architecture to process and contextualise a sub-millisecond, multi-feed torrent of racing car telemetry, video and audio data within a compressed 50-minute window. The system utilises Gemini-enriched workflows to deliver operational gains by streamlining deep analytical data pools within seconds during live broadcasts. Technical support: Aurora Media Worldwide.

Sports Central Automation for JioStar India

The Sports Central Automation initiative overhauled a fragmented, manual VOD pipeline into a scalable, multi-lingual digital publishing engine. Faced with severe operational bottlenecks during high-profile live events like IPL, ICC and BCCI cricket matches, the JioStar India Private team engineered a comprehensive VOD Configuration Engine, automating asset ingestion, metadata generation and multi-lingual synchronisation.

Bardel’s global animation production fabric

Bardel Entertainment, a Vancouver-based animation studio serving Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Studios and HBO, partnered with Qumulo to transform its production infrastructure using the Qumulo Cloud Data Fabric. By unifying Vancouver, Montreal and AWS into a single real-time storage environment, Bardel enabled artists across locations to access the same assets instantly without file copies, transfer delays or workflow disruption.

Audio at the core: Future of remote production

Vivid Broadcast has built a future-proof audio infrastructure at the heart of its Remote Production Centre and Barra OB unit. Anchored by Calrec's Argo M consoles and True Control 2.0, and complemented by Ross Ultrix, RTS ODIN and Bitfocus Buttons, the system has been proven on Aurora Media Worldwide’s coverage of Women’s Super League for Sky Sports.

Media For Europe’s OneOTT project

Broadcaster MFE – Media For Europe set out to transform its digital streaming operation by consolidating the separate OTT platforms of Mediaset Italia and Mediaset España into a unified technology stack. To lead this initiative, MFE selected Fincons Group as its technology partner. The result is OneOTT, a cross-market platform integration project, combining organisational complexity with significant technical depth.

Capacity that follows the live news story

Reuters, together with TVU Networks and partners, has rebuilt how global live news is distributed, replacing fixed-capacity infrastructure with cloud-native media workflows -- where capacity follows editorial demand, not the other way around. Built on TVU MediaMesh and Platform Tools, the architecture eliminates the fixed channel model and includes integration with Elecard, InSync, Kinetiq, TAG Video Systems and Sony.

Transforming broadcast distribution in Malaysia

TCODE (Technical COntent DElivery) is a centralised digital contribution and workflow orchestration platform for Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM). Today, following collaboration with integrator Ideal Systems, TCODE serves as RTM’s primary technical content contribution platform, supporting around 400 content suppliers including production houses, syndication partners and government agencies. Technical supporters: Blue Lucy Media, Emotion Systems, Fortinet.

Delivering anime at a global scale

Crunchyroll, the global anime brand, partnered with TMT Insights and SDVI to transform one of the industry's most complex content supply chains. Following the unification of the Crunchyroll and Funimation libraries, the team reconciled, rationalised and migrated 50,000+ episodes and 400,000+ localisation components in just 90 days, creating a single global content foundation.

SPOTV live sport delivery in Southeast Asia

Working with Net Insight, Open Broadcast Systems and Zixi, Southeast Asian sports media platform SPOTV designed and deployed an IP-based, cloud-optimised distribution network that replaced satellite and fibre with a software-defined architecture built on the Zixi Platform and Zixi's Managed Cloud Infrastructure. SPOTV achieved error-free distribution, faster affiliate onboarding across the region, and the opening of new revenue opportunities.

Sports AI: Reinventing Olympic archive content

Sports AI is an innovation programme transforming how Olympic content is tagged, searched and discovered across one of the world’s richest sports archives. Developed through collaboration between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Alibaba Cloud, it addresses a fundamental media industry challenge: how to make vast volumes of image and video content instantly accessible, operationally usable and editorially valuable.

MasOrange multi-brand TV expansion

MasOrange modernised its services in Spain’s intensely competitive pay-TV market, deploying an integrated advertising architecture provided by Viaccess-Orca and supported by Broadpeak. The project established a unified backend supporting three TV brands - MASMOVIL TV, Yoigo TV and PepeTV - on a shared technical foundation, enabling consistent service delivery across IPTV and OTT.

UVOtv serves North American diasporas

UVOtv is a FAST and AVOD service providing 70 million North American diaspora viewers free access to 700+ premium international live channels. Based on Setplex’s Zapflex platform, its core innovation is a proprietary, production-grade multimodal AI pipeline that automates ad boundary detection in real time with 98% accuracy and under 500ms latency.

Persona real-time scheduling for live radio

Berlin-based RTL Audio Center set out to solve one of radio’s oldest daily problems - back-timing, the reshaping of a playlist so that fixed points such as news and traffic are hit to the second. Persona Timing is the result, an AI-assisted solution combining the ON AIR Vertex.Framework configuration platform, MusicMaster scheduling and Danexis playout software.

Remote VAR comes to the Pacific

The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), working with technology partners LiveU and Hawk-Eye, brought remote VAR to Pacific Island football for the first time – solving a challenge that had long seemed impossible. The remote integration system achieves just one second of round-trip latency to the OFC hub in Auckland, and has been extended to FIFA-sanctioned competitions across the region.

Vertical live production from a single feed

PHXAM 2026 in Arizona brought together Transition Pictures, Grabyo, Amazon Web Services and Tagboard to explore how live event production could better serve mobile-first and social-native audiences. Using Grabyo’s cloud-native production workflow, AWS Elemental Inference and Tagboard’s vertically optimised graphics workflows, the AI-assisted project transformed a single 16:9 live feed into simultaneous horizontal and vertical outputs.

Implementation of DTV+ in Brazil

This project was conceived to reconnect the scale of free-to-air broadcast with digital capabilities, combining mass reach with personalisation and measurement. Globo structured DTV+ as part of a multi-stakeholder effort involving government, broadcasters and industry, establishing a coordinated approach to ensure free-to-air services gain visibility on TV home screens through dedicated applications and persistent entry points.

Magiq360: Redefining live sports storytelling

The Indian Premier League's production teams collaborated with Quidich Innovation Labs to develop Magiq360, an AI-powered replay system that creates immersive spatial camera movements between existing live broadcast camera feeds. Deployed during IPL 2026, Magiq360 enabled directors to create cinematic ‘frozen moment’ replay sequences without requiring volumetric capture systems, specialist camera arrays or additional venue infrastructure.

Moving AI workloads into the set-top box

KAON Group in Korea collaborated with LG U+, LG Electronics and Synaptics to commercialise UHD4, an on-device AI HDR media experience for LG U+ IPTV services. The solution shifts AI workloads beyond cloud infrastructure to the device edge, enabling real-time AI acceleration for picture enhancement, sound enhancement and subtitle auto-positioning across LG U+ content and OTT apps.

Reimagining football for the mobile-first generation

The United Arab Emirates Pro League sought to create a football experience designed specifically for vertical platforms such as TikTok and Instagram rather than repurposing traditional TV coverage. In partnership with Quidich Innovation Labs it deployed QuickFlip, an AI-powered solution that transforms live horizontal broadcasts into real-time vertical feeds enhanced with customised cloud graphics, without requiring parallel workflows.

Create your own multiview

Comcast and MediaKind developed an HEVC tiling and just-in-time composition architecture that eliminated the exponential encoding costs traditionally associated with personalised multiview delivery. The platform drove a 300% increase in multiview sessions and a 200% year-on-year engagement increase during March Madness 2026. The architecture is now deployed across the US through Xfinity, Rogers in Canada and Sky in Germany/UK.

Dynamic event markers for live sports broadcast

Big Blue Marble in Vienna collaborated with Sportradar to develop a real-time metadata-driven solution that dynamically enhances live sports broadcasts with interactive event markers synchronised to the live stream. The objective of the project was to transform the passive playback timeline into an intelligent navigation layer. The feature works across DVB-based services, OTT apps, smart TVs and mobile devices.

Premier League: The connected fan experience

Premier League Companion by Copilot delivers a connected fan experience across devices and channels. Built with Microsoft, the Premier League’s official cloud and AI partner, it gives 1.8 billion fans in 189 countries personalised, real-time access to match insights, stories and history, with context-aware prompts and agentic AI analysis. Technical support: Adobe Customer Data Platform.

An open standard for immersive audio

The Immersive Audio Model and Formats (IAMF), developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), is an open standard designed to enable immersive audio at scale. Its deployment across platforms such as YouTube and support on consumer devices, including Samsung and LG TVs and Android devices, brings immersive audio out of specialised production environments and into everyone’s hands.

Next-generation newsroom publishing workflow

With Amagi, US regional broadcaster Morgan Murphy Media is deploying Newspulse, a policy-driven agentic AI platform configured to monitor multiple stations simultaneously. It identifies stories in real-time, reframes them into platform-native formats, generates captions, post copy, and is built to publish directly to YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and MRSS — within minutes of broadcast, within journalist-defined editorial guardrails.

Tilly Norwood (and the Tillyverse)

Particle6 set out to test a fundamental media question: could an entirely AI-generated performer sustain a credible, evolving presence across multiple platforms, with genuine screen roles, cultural impact and audience investment? Tilly Norwood, created through its AI production pipeline and talent studio Xicoia, has reached an estimated 80 million people globally with approximately 500 million cumulative impressions.

Verifiable authenticity for streaming video

With AI-generated video eroding viewer trust, this project from Netherlands-based Unified Streaming, extends the ability for audiences to verify where videos come from, by embedding C2PA provenance and authenticity information into dynamic streaming workflows, including dynamic packaging and just-in-time segment generation. Dynamic media signing is a flexible and scalable approach to managing bandwidth and content integrity across the media supply chain. Technical Supporters: Qualabs and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR).

Closing the loop: How DeviceAtlas illuminates hidden streaming footprint

While industry focus has been on data centres (5% of emissions) and transmission (23%), the 72% contributed by endpoint devices remained unmeasured. Device Atlas’s new Sustainability Properties introduce device-level energy metadata, including power consumption and energy class ratings for TVs, tablets, and mobile devices, enabling streaming platforms to measure their full environmental footprint. It has already been made available for platforms including Netflix, CBS and Globo. Project supported by the European Product Registry for Energy Labelling.

Clear-Com sustainability

Clear-Com has transformed its California headquarters into a resource-efficient, carbon-neutral operation while maintaining the manufacturing requirements of professional communications technology. The project combines large-scale solar generation, water conservation systems, EV infrastructure, comprehensive recycling and e-waste programmes, and supply-chain accountability. Since implementation the site has generated more than 4 million kWh of renewable energy and reduced energy costs by 30%.

Crystal Clear: Boosting speech intelligibility in media

Channel 4 UK initiated the Crystal Clear IBC Accelerator to tackle dialogue intelligibility issues affecting both hearing-impaired and general audiences. Automated tools identify programme segments at risk of poor intelligibility, which are then reviewed by professionals to make the final judgement. Technical Supporters: BBC, BBC R&D, Fraunhofer IDMT, Sky UK, Shure, ITV, AES, IET. Informal Supporters: RNID, Nugen Audio, Telos Alliance, RTW, Amazon, Brahma AI. 

Broadcasting innovation and spectrum governance for digital inclusion in Brazil

In a country of continental dimensions, the transition from analogue to digital television required the Group for the Implementation of the TV Channel Redistribution and Digitalisation Process (GIRED) to co-ordinate public authorities, broadcasters, mobile network operators, local government, installers, retailers, social programmes and citizens, distributing around 14 million digital TV kits to low-income families and using remaining resources to expand communications infrastructure. This includes more than 1,500 digital television stations in countryside municipalities, up to 150 public-broadcasting stations, and mobile connectivity in underserved localities. Technical support: EAD/Seja Digital - Entidade Administradora do Processo de Redistribuição e Digitalização de Canais de TV e RTV

AI for Good

AI for Good connects AI innovation to human benefit. Established by the International Telecommunications Union in 2017, the platform convenes governments, start-ups, researchers, UN agencies, industry leaders, civil society and youth from over 180 countries to accelerate responsible AI for sustainable development goals. Centred on an annual summit, it also operates year-round with initiatives for its different communities.

Greener Streaming: Building a sustainable future for video delivery

Addressing one of the media industry’s most urgent societal challenges - reducing the environmental impact of global video streaming - MainStreaming’s Intelligent Media Delivery Platform enables broadcasters, OTT platforms and ISPs to deliver high-quality streaming with up to 50% lower energy consumption compared to traditional CDN models. From 2024, the initiative has expanded internationally, supporting sustainable large-scale live streaming while maintaining carbon-neutral operations.

IOC Cyber Abuse Protection Service (CAPS)

The largest cyber-abuse monitoring exercise ever commissioned in sport, this system protects athletes, teams, coaches and officials from online abuse at the Olympic Games. Across Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026, CAPS analysed 4.3 million posts, covered 26,000+ accounts in up to 56 languages, verified ~24,700 abusive posts, and drove hundreds of suspensions and legal referrals — removing the reporting burden from athletes. Technical Supporter: Signify Threat Matrix.

KMS Media Network: Rebuilding public trust through community-centred digital journalism and civic information access in Uganda

Over the last year, KMS combined mobile journalism, cloud-based publishing, livestream production, multilingual storytelling and community partnerships to deliver real-time public interest reporting on governance, education, youth empowerment, faith, and social accountability in underserved regions. The initiative enabled local reporters and young creators with limited resources to produce and distribute professional-quality journalism across web, social, and mobile platforms.

Closing the sign language gap: AI-powered sign language for live and on-demand streaming

G&L Systemhaus, a German-based integrator for streaming infrastructure, initiated a project to remove a structural barrier in public broadcasting, public communication and education. German Sign Language (DGS) interpretation can’t currently be delivered at scale; the volume of digital content requiring sign language far exceeds what human interpreters alone can cover. G&L brought together UK-based AI company Signapse, software company Norsk/id3as and CDN provider Akamai to build a broadcast-grade, AI-powered sign language solution for live and on-demand streaming.