The visual media broadcasting industry is in continuous evolution. Italian companies can guarantee cutting-edge technologies to meet increasingly demanding requirements, such as in the field of high-definition image transmission. At the 2009 NAB Show, which will be held in Las Vegas from April 18^th to 23^rd 2009, electronic media operators will have the chance to appreciate the contribution of this well-structured industrial sector. It is composed of the large Made in Italy groups, coexisting with a network of small and medium size firms, distributed all over the country, but mainly concentrated in the satellite technology areas of Lazio, Campania, Piedmont and Veneto.

The NAB is one of the world’s most important events for digital technologies, postproduction and services related to audio, video, cinematographic and radio broadcasting. The show addresses the market throughout the continent, even if the review is dedicated primarily to the US economy. The event is an occasion for sharing the industry’s most advanced developments in products and services for interactive television, wireless internet access, remote control of electronic devices via satellite, the digitalisation of mass media and the integration of telecommunications and entertainment.

The ICE (Italian Trade Commission) will once again organise a collective Italian participation in the 2009 Las Vegas event. Last year was the first time that Made in Italy was present under the aegis of the Commission. The result was positive: the companies participating in the show strengthened their ties with a market that is growing, despite the negative economic situation, and which offers wide business possibilities for Italian products and technologies. Around 105,000 visitors took part in the 2008 NAB Show, with more than 1,600 exhibitors from 163 foreign countries, as well as from the United States.

As can be expected, Made in Italy industry in this field is highly developed and able to providing cutting-edge technological solutions, such as those for high-definition. The new standard Dvb-T2, which will be available within 2 to 3 years, will signal the passage to the second generation of digital terrestrial broadcasting, namely high-definition, now that the technology has obtained regulatory approval in June 2008. But an Italian company, Screen Service Broadcasting Technologies of Brescia, already introduced the world’s first commercial transmitter capable of working with the Dvb-T2 format in September 2008. The standard, Screen Service explains, will improve signal quality from 30 to 50%, and allow high definition broadcasting of more than one program with the same transmitter.« The Italian group has already sealed supply contracts with two important European broadcasters.

But the Italian offer of advanced solutions is also of interest in other areas of television signal transmission. In March 2008, the EU Commission decided to adopt the Dvb-H standard for the transmission of digital video content to mobile phones. This is the same as the technology used for terrestrial digital TV, but adapted for reception on the move. Italy is at the cutting edge of “mobile” television in Europe, and with a penetration level of 1%, it is the most advanced continental market for Dvb-H standard distribution. Indeed, it is the only country that already has television channels transmitting in Dvb-H. According to EU estimations, by 2015 the world market for mobile television could reach around 500 million users, with a value of 20 billion Euros.