TV history - on demand
Television I Changing media consumption patterns and the threat of deterioration of old film footage are giving the digitization of television archives a significant boost.
Television Changing media consumption patterns and the impending decay of old film material are giving the digitization of television archives a real boost. "On demand" is the order of the day: radio and TV offerings are increasingly turning into a self-service store with images and sounds. Why sit down in front of the screen at eight o'clock on the dot when technology makes it possible to watch a program days or even years later? The tyranny of the timeline no longer prevails. Swiss Television SF is also aware of this: "We see the trend towards consuming TV content 'on demand' as a great opportunity. Our best documentaries, TV films and our archival treasures are made available to the public and can be used anywhere and at any time. This offer is particularly interesting for schools and educational institutions." The words of SF Director Ingrid Deltenre at a media conference on May 24 will soon be followed by action. "The digitized archive will be completed by 2008, so that web access will then be possible," explains Walter Bachmann, Head of the SF Multimedia Centre. The opening of the television archive is more or less a side effect of the digitization of the historical image material. "This makes it relatively easy and inexpensive to open up the digitized content for access via the Internet," says Bachmann. sf.tv, the website of Swiss Television, already offers numerous films from earlier times free of charge. From August 1999, for example, broadcasts of the Tagesschau can be "streamed" more or less in their entirety, i.e. viewed on screen but not saved and edited. There are not only technical but also legal barriers to public access to archive material. "We can only open archive material for web access," says multimedia head Bachmann, "if SF has the appropriate rights."
476 contributions from 52 yearsFrench Swiss television is already one step ahead. Using the same technical framework as SF, TSR presents a selection of digitized archive material on a specially created website. There are currently 476 films from the past 52 years available for viewing. This is only a fraction of what will be digitized and made available to the public over the next six years. The conversion of celluloid to digital data carriers is the order of the day. Historical film material is in danger of disintegrating. Following an in-depth evaluation, TSR commissioned a department with over a dozen employees at the beginning of 2005 to preserve the historical television heritage of French-speaking Switzerland. As the broadcaster announced on the occasion of the launch of the public portal on the Internet (archives.tsr.ch) last September, the plan is to restore and digitize around 70,000 hours of film material by 2012. The cost: 25 million francs.
Role models BBC and INAIn the international TV landscape, it is above all the British and French who have made great efforts to digitize and open up their archives. A website launched a few weeks ago by the French Institut National de l'Audiovisuel INA already contains 10,000 hours of material from the collections of French public broadcasters. Not unlike in French-speaking Switzerland, INA is also under time pressure, as the film material is threatened with decay. At the British BBC, on the other hand, the driving force is rather the realization that a broadcaster cannot escape changing media consumption patterns. The recently announced repositioning of the BBC's Internet offerings under the motto "Creative Future" also includes opening up the archives back to 1937.
Nick Lüthi
"A right of the public "Wolf Ludwig
about fee-financed broadcasts. WW: Comunica-ch, the platform of the Swiss information society, is calling for open access to the SRG's video and audio resources. Wolf Ludwig: Only in part. We understand our demand in principle and politically, while legal issues still need to be clarified with the SRG. For us, free access to the archives is a prerequisite in the information society.WW: But what more are public broadcasting archives than just another jumble of data on the Internet?Ludwig: The value of archived "Traumjob" or "Music Star" broadcasts is open to debate. You can ask yourself whether this is part of cultural history. But it may well be of interest to ethnologists.WW: Archived programs from SF and TSR can "only" be viewed, but not saved and edited. But if comunica-ch has its way, this is exactly what should be made possible.Ludwig: Because of the current legal situation, SRG is somewhat reluctant to do this. For us, the BBC model, which enables editing and retransmission, is clearly in the foreground. However, this has only been possible since the BBC developed a corresponding license. Clear rules that give users a certain amount of freedom create the greatest possible legal certainty.WW: Private media companies see the publication of archive material as an undue influence on the market, as public broadcasters gain a competitive advantage in this way. How can a balance be struck? Ludwig: I don't think it's possible to strike a balance here. For us, it is not a question of whether they are allowed to do this, but whether they have to do it. The public has a right to continue to be able to watch and listen to what they once financed through fees. Interview: Nick Lüthi> Wolf Ludwig is the Co-President of comunica-ch, the association of non-governmental organizations that deal with issues relating to today's information society.
476 contributions from 52 yearsFrench Swiss television is already one step ahead. Using the same technical framework as SF, TSR presents a selection of digitized archive material on a specially created website. There are currently 476 films from the past 52 years available for viewing. This is only a fraction of what will be digitized and made available to the public over the next six years. The conversion of celluloid to digital data carriers is the order of the day. Historical film material is in danger of disintegrating. Following an in-depth evaluation, TSR commissioned a department with over a dozen employees at the beginning of 2005 to preserve the historical television heritage of French-speaking Switzerland. As the broadcaster announced on the occasion of the launch of the public portal on the Internet (archives.tsr.ch) last September, the plan is to restore and digitize around 70,000 hours of film material by 2012. The cost: 25 million francs.
Role models BBC and INAIn the international TV landscape, it is above all the British and French who have made great efforts to digitize and open up their archives. A website launched a few weeks ago by the French Institut National de l'Audiovisuel INA already contains 10,000 hours of material from the collections of French public broadcasters. Not unlike in French-speaking Switzerland, INA is also under time pressure, as the film material is threatened with decay. At the British BBC, on the other hand, the driving force is rather the realization that a broadcaster cannot escape changing media consumption patterns. The recently announced repositioning of the BBC's Internet offerings under the motto "Creative Future" also includes opening up the archives back to 1937.
Nick Lüthi
"A right of the public "Wolf Ludwig
about fee-financed broadcasts. WW: Comunica-ch, the platform of the Swiss information society, is calling for open access to the SRG's video and audio resources. Wolf Ludwig: Only in part. We understand our demand in principle and politically, while legal issues still need to be clarified with the SRG. For us, free access to the archives is a prerequisite in the information society.WW: But what more are public broadcasting archives than just another jumble of data on the Internet?Ludwig: The value of archived "Traumjob" or "Music Star" broadcasts is open to debate. You can ask yourself whether this is part of cultural history. But it may well be of interest to ethnologists.WW: Archived programs from SF and TSR can "only" be viewed, but not saved and edited. But if comunica-ch has its way, this is exactly what should be made possible.Ludwig: Because of the current legal situation, SRG is somewhat reluctant to do this. For us, the BBC model, which enables editing and retransmission, is clearly in the foreground. However, this has only been possible since the BBC developed a corresponding license. Clear rules that give users a certain amount of freedom create the greatest possible legal certainty.WW: Private media companies see the publication of archive material as an undue influence on the market, as public broadcasters gain a competitive advantage in this way. How can a balance be struck? Ludwig: I don't think it's possible to strike a balance here. For us, it is not a question of whether they are allowed to do this, but whether they have to do it. The public has a right to continue to be able to watch and listen to what they once financed through fees. Interview: Nick Lüthi> Wolf Ludwig is the Co-President of comunica-ch, the association of non-governmental organizations that deal with issues relating to today's information society.
