Offering a broad umbrella for IP standards

TVBEuropes Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a younger, more diverse membership, and broader industry adoption of IP technologies

By Jenny Priestley

Published: March 10, 2025 Updated: March 12, 2025

TVBEurope's Jenny Priestley sits down with new SMPTE president Richard Welsh to discuss his aims for the organisation going forward, its efforts to attract a younger, more diverse membership, and broader industry adoption of IP technologies

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Established in 1916 as the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, SMPTE has published more than 800 technical standards and related documents for broadcast, filmmaking, digital cinema, audio recording, information technology (IT), and medical imaging over the past 100+ years.

Appointed as the organisation's president in January, Richard Welsh is the latest in a long line of media technologists tasked with guiding SMPTE as it navigates the ongoing changes within the industry, including the move from hardware to software, and the rise of artificial intelligence.

Richars Welsh, president, SMPTE We're still very much an international standards development organisation, which is how we started, explains Welsh, but what I think is really cool about SMPTE is that over and above that we're a really amazing technology community, and it's all about developing talent and bringing the community together to learn from each other across all the different areas of technology that we're touching in media.

Welsh describes SMPTE's membership as a very broad umbrella open to broadcasters and vendors alike. A transport protocol like SMPTE ST 2110 is implemented by vendors, but it has to be architected by broadcasters, he explains. Both parties have to work together to do that because you don't use one piece of hardware that does everything.

Even before being appointed president, Welsh was involved in engaging new members not just in the United States or UK but around the world. One of SMPTE's biggest areas of expansion currently is in India, which Welsh hopes will become its own section within the SMPTE membership. Similarly, with the UK and Europe, we are seeing an increase in membership, he adds.

In the UK, currently the fastest-growing region in SMPTE, there's been a push to reach out to members outside of London with meetings and events taking place in Manchester and Leeds. This has been driven by members of SMPTE who volunteer to run the events. In each region, you have to find people who are enthused and active and can give time to it, and nurture that local community to bring it together, states Welsh.

He cites the events being held outside London as a good example of members who want to bring their local media technology community together, under the wider umbrella and resources of SMPTE. On a global level, the network is amazing. I want to see us build on that, and take advantage of the fact that we have these incredibly dedicated individuals who are putting their time and energy into SMPTE for the good of SMPTE and the good of the community. We need to recognise it and build on it. That's how we will increase our international activity and also make us feel more global. That's not to say we're not a global organisation. We absolutely are, but it can feel US-centric.

The future of 2110 SMPTE officially ratified 2110, its standard for video, audio and metadata over IP networks, in 2017. But, like any standard, it hasn't stood still since ratification. Not only is 2110 seeing adoption in traditional broadcast workflows, but the AV industry is finding uses for the standard as well. Welsh cites the Sphere in Las Vegas, which is using 2110 to sync all the servers for its 16K x 16K screen. It's the only protocol they could make work for such a complex and critical environment. You can't have any slip there, because it's going to immediately be a problem for the audience.

But while some broadcasters and venues are embracing 2110, full adoption across the broadcast industry remains slow. Adoption is always one of the challenges. You can write a standard, but it doesn't always go the way that everyone just starts using it, he admits. I guess the nervousness covers some real concerns around reliability, robustness and security effectively.

Asked what his message would be to broadcasters who are nervous about adopting IP, Welsh says he wanted to encourage them to get more involved with SMPTE and help make the standard fit their needs. If there are gaps, then help us make the standard better. If it's something more than that and there's a bigger conversation, again, SMPTE is a great place to have that, because we bring together all these different members of the community, the vendors, the content owners, even the creatives.

Another challenge for SMPTE is moving to a more modern way of developing, publishing and maintaining standards. 2110 is in what Welsh describes as a maintenance and development phase where it can be used but also evolve along with the industry. Any standard is going to keep developing. I think the way in which we develop them will also keep evolving.

It's not just standards that are evolving, the way viewers consume content is undergoing fundamental change, and then there's the

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