Streaming Forum Returns as Part of London Entertainment Week!
Stars and James Bond fans were out in force last month at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the world premiere of Spectre, the latest 007 adventure. Unusually, the movie opened in U.K. cinemas on the same day as the premiere, with the whole red carpet shindig streamed live on YouTube. Star Daniel Craig and director Sam Mendes were joined on the red carpet by Prince William; Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge; and Prince Harry. The royal seal of approval indicates the importance of the Bond franchise: 007’s previous outing, 2012’s Skyfall, earned more than $1 billion at the global box office and is the most successful film of all time in the U.K.
Bond, and his magical movie franchise counterpart Harry Potter, might represent fantasy versions of the archetypal English male, but they are obvious figureheads for the innovative strength of the entire U.K. entertainment industry, renowned as a creative hub for the delivery of world-class film, TV, theatre, live events, and gaming.
This achievement will be celebrated next February with the launch of London Entertainment Week, a week-long series of events built around BVE, the U.K.’s leading event for the broadcast, creative, and live entertainment sectors.
London Entertainment Week will run from 22–26 February 2016 and will feature a range of events, awards, and fringe activities in and around London. This includes Streaming Forum 2016, which will take place at ExCel alongside BVE itself.
“It’s estimated that the value of the U.K.’s Entertainment and Media sector will be £64 billion by 2018,” says Daniel Sacchelli, event manager of BVE organiser i2i Events. Sacchelli praised the event’s “scope and ambition,” saying, “London Entertainment Week will be the platform for the industry’s organisations and individuals to assemble across the week, delivering networking, training, innovation and inspiration.”
Skyfall became the highest grossing movie in U.K. box office history after just 40 days, so by the time London Entertainment Week rolls around the box office success of Spectre will be well-established. So will the level of piracy it creates—British cinemas screening Spectre are reportedly issuing staff with military-style night vision goggles in an attempt to snuff out illegal filming. Despite this and many other challenges, the ambition of the U.K.’s creative industries is unquestionable, and matched by achievement; the government’s own figures estimate that the U.K.’s creative industries contribute a massive £8.8 million per hour to the U.K. economy. An all-time high indeed.
Streaming Forum 2016
Streaming Forum is back in London for 2016, this time with an emphasis on live streaming. The conference focuses on the challenges and opportunities inherent in delivering large-scale live events and live linear channels to multiple screens.
Streaming Forum 2016 covers the technologies and strategies required by anyone streaming one-time entertainment, news, or sports and gaming events; or delivering recurring live content to viewers watching on computers, tablets, mobile phones, set-top boxes, and smart TVs.
Topics covered include the following:
- Best practices for backhaul, transmission, and ingest: satellite, fibre, cellular and more
- Encoding and transcoding: on-prem, cloud, and hybrid
- Management: media servers, metadata, content protection, stream stitching and preparation for syndication and post-event VOD viewing
- User experience: video player features, clip sharing and social media integration
- Monetisation: advertising, subscription, pay-per-view and authentication
- Distribution: content delivery networks, real-time analytics, QoS and QoE
- The future of live streaming
- Case studies presenting real-world live streaming success from a variety of markets
For the first time, Streaming Forum is part of London Entertainment Week and collocated with BVE, which adds value for delegates by providing them with unlimited access to the U.K.’s premier expo for the broadcast, creative, and live entertainment sectors. Conference rooms lead directly off the BVE exhibition hall, and all Streaming Forum sponsors are part of the Streaming Forum Pavilion on the BVE exhibition floor. This gives them access to the more than 15,000 BVE attendees, as well as Streaming Forum delegates. Lunches and networking for Streaming Forum delegates take place in the Streaming Forum Lounge & Pavilion.
For more information, and to register to receive a Conference Programme as soon as it is announced, visit www.streaming-forum.com.
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The Streaming Forum is back in 2016, with a new location and a new focus on live streaming. It will be part of BVE's London Entertainment Week in February.
02 Oct 2015