Report on the EBU-IMZ Panel: The role of public service TV in the post-Covid arts sector

The panel was held during ITF Golden Prague Festival on 23 Sept 2020 and organised by the EBU – European Broadcasting Union + the IMZ. Read the report here.

The speakers of the panel consisted of several indusrty experts, including Jean Philip De Tender and Matthew Trustram of the EBU, the IMZ’s Katharina Jeschke and Ruth Pfletschinger, IMZ Academy Director Peter Maniura and representatives of public broadcasting institutions, like IMZ President Arild Erikstad who represented NRK.

De Tender talked about two major threats for art broadcasting, namely risks arising from the economic crisis (wich art institutions felt sooner than public broadcasters) and the risk to the diversity of the content portfolio (with more commercial programming sustaining, while smaller events are being cancelled).

Jeschke mentioned the importance of partnerships within and between international networks. Furthermore, the rapid progress of digital platforms is crucial now more than ever. The IMZ International Music + Media Centre is responding by developing IMZ Online Services, an IMZ film search engine + B2B marketplace, which includes the setting of new standards for metadata and content-based asset identification.

Trustram noted that the arts sector has been one of the hardest hit of the entire economy. Large amounts of revenue were lost during the initial “lockdown” phase, now it is important to find long-term solutions and explore how the broadcasting sector can support art institutions.

Pfletschinger gave a summary of information gathered by the IMZ Members, among whom are producers, broadcasters, distributors, streaming services and art institutions. All of them made a shift towards the digital for obvious reasons, but although streaming viewer numbers increased, everyone still longs for physical meetings which are are a big part of how content transactions take place.

Maniura illustrated an existing problem within the arts industry, where digital content (even high quality one) has often been seen as a side channel. Now, people are recognizing its potential as a central part of the DNA of new audiences.

Erikstad – like the other experts representing public broadcasting – talked aout the willingness and need to support art institutions and also individual artists. There is no special responsibility towards the big institutions; rather the sector as a whole needs supporting!

To read the full report, sign in to the EBU following this link: