FEED IBC ISSUE 2026 Web

This issue explores the technologies and trends shaping the future of broadcast and streaming, with a particular focus on AI and its growing role across the industry. From agentic AI and AI-native transmission to NASA’s Artemis II livestream and the rise of AI-generated actors, we examine what’s next. We also explore whether streaming has peaked, revisit major sports broadcasting moments, and look ahead to IBC 2026 with our comprehensive show guide.

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Humans, meet your agents rab your finest wooden really mattered?” questioned Caroline Ewerton, SVP of content operations

EDITORIAL

EDITOR Verity Butler +44 (0)1223 492246 veritybutler@bright.uk.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Nicola Foley SENIOR STAFF WRITER

clogs and brightest bunch of tulips as (unbelievably!)

and technology for DAZN. It was this independence, adaptability and autonomy (beyond your bog-standard generative models) that pricked my ears. I soon realised that this wasn’t just another AI talk. Check out the full agentic AI feature on page 14, which seeks to understand the true depth of its potential. Elsewhere, we pick up on our conversation with NASA from last issue to learn how successful the live stream of the Artemis II mission was – and any lessons for next time. We also talk to IBC keynote speaker Eline van der Velden of Particle6, the company behind controversial AI actor Tilly Norwood; while later in the issue we take a hike, seeking to understand whether streaming has peaked – and if so, what lies beyond. Finally, if you’re feeling bereft without the FIFA World Cup to tune into every night – fear not! From Haaland spring onion memes to controversial hydration breaks, we check out the broadcast highlights from this year’s tournament.

IBC is only just around the corner. With conference topics spanning AI, sports, cloud and cybersecurity, we’ve used this issue to hold a mirror up to some of the industry’s favourite talking points. Be sure to turn to page 82 for this year’s annual show guide, where you’ll find the ultimate hit list ahead of your visit to the RAI. Coincidentally, my attention was first drawn to this issue’s theme at the IBC Accelerator Kickstart day over in BBC HQ this February. The annual event is an opportunity for broadcast’s most innovative minds to champion a range of proofs of concept to tackle industry issues. One of the 12 pitches was titled ‘AI- powered Delta Streaming: Live Media Reinvented’, which was proposed by DAZN – the goal being to prototype the first AI-native transmission model. “What if live video could not just be sent, but actually understood? What if the broadcast chain was content- aware; it actually knew what it was carrying and divided in real time what

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CONTENTS IBC ISSUE 2026

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31, 45, 55 & 62

250 YEARS OF AMERICA Whether you celebrate July 4th or not, we share some TV highlights from the US’s 250th birthday

HAS STREAMING PEAKED? OTT platforms have long dominated the streaming game. But has its full potential now been reached?

IBC KEYNOTE INTERVIEW: PARTICLE6 A new Hollywood star is born... but turns out she’s not real! We meet the team behind Tilly Norwood

FOOTBALL MEETS AI FEED sits down with Stuart Fenton of Reading FC, the first head of AI at any UK football club

76 TURNING WHAT’S NEW INTO WHAT’S NEXT With IBC edging closer, this issue’s panel discuss differentiating the buzzwords from true innovation NEWSFEED From a new OB truck fleet to Mattel bringing Barbie to the world, these are the latest industry scoops

COVER FEATURE: AGENTIC AI Artificial intelligence has taken on a new form – and this time it’s autonomous. Introducing ‘agentic’...

TRUST AND PROVENANCE Hacks, piracy, phishing – content has never been more unsafe. We explore the scale of the issue

STREAMING ARTEMIS II We sit down with NASA once again, this time post-Moon-mission. Join us behind the stream of Artemis II

NAVIGATING THE VIEWER JOURNEY We investigate how viewers now experience and consume content in completely different ways

IBC 2026: SHOW GUIDE Heading to the Dutch capital in September? Don’t go before checking out this year’s guide

FIFA WORLD CUP 2026 From Haaland memes to infamous hydration breaks, discover the best broadcast bits from the World Cup

FEED FORUM ON DEMAND With our popular webinar series kicking off last year, we’ve rounded up the highlights

This issue’s cover was designed by Carl Golsby at Bright Publishing

COMPANY PROFILES 13 Bolt6 33 SportAI 43 Blue Lucy

Eline van der Velden sits down with FEED to discuss creating AI actor Tilly Norwood, navigating industry outcry and why she believes artificial intelligence will transform, not replace, the creative industries Words by Oliver Webb

ast year, you might have seen clips making the rounds of up-and-coming actor Tilly Norwood. She seemed to appear out of nowhere, quickly becoming an online sensation. You are forgiven, however, if you’ve never seen her work before because, well... Tilly Norwood doesn’t exist. Norwood is the creation of Particle6, an AI production studio that combines AI workflows with traditional filmmaking to produce video, film and TV content. The AI actor was ultimately met with widespread backlash. The SAG-AFTRA union released a statement condemning Norwood’s creators, and actors including Natasha Lyonne, Emily Blunt and Mara Wilson expressed their concerns. Norwood has since attracted interest from talent agencies, and she has even released a music video. Particle6 was founded by CEO Eline van der Velden. She began her career as a performer, starring in the 2014 film Flying Home alongside Jamie Dornan and BBC Three comedy series Miss Holland . The company, originally called Particle Productions, took off alongside Van der Velden’s acting career. “Four years ago, I decided to convert the company into an AI production studio because I saw where things were going,” she begins. Artificial actors Van der Velden argues Particle6 has been at the forefront of learning new technologies as they develop. “We’re ready for this transition,” she says. “I believe we’re going through a new industrial revolution. The best way to survive in that is to lean forward and to upskill and retool as many people as possible.” Van der Velden admits that she has the same concerns and fears about AI as everyone else, but she suggests that keeping one foot inside the tech industry allows her to stay ahead of the game. “People hadn’t seen any AI influencers before, and so Tilly was a way for me to showcase to everybody that this is coming,” she says. “I wanted that change to come from within the creative industries, as opposed to being imposed by the tech industry, so I’m really happy for Tilly to have created that backlash in order to move the conversation forward.” While Van der Velden argues that preparation for AI is necessary, many actors remain unconvinced by the

» I’M HAPPY FOR TILLY TO HAVE CREATED THAT BACKLASH TO MOVE THE CONVERSATION FORWARD «

argument. She maintains that Norwood is not intended to replace performers but to demonstrate what is possible. “I’m in control of what Tilly does,” she says. “We will be using her in AI productions, but not to replace the real. I see it more as animation – it’s a new medium.” Van der Velden thinks one solution is actors protecting themselves by owning their digital twin, although having to resort to this isn’t exactly reassuring for performers. “Actors need to be prepared to do motion capture and license out their digital avatar to productions to be ready for what’s coming,” she says. “I can’t say it’s absolutely not going to change the industry, it’s up to the future to decide, but I think there will be AI feature films and TV series.” Creative clients There is, however, a misconception that Particle6 is just Tilly Norwood, and Van der Velden highlights that the company is still also very much involved in film, TV and ads. Furthermore, the company itself consists of numerous departments to balance the wide range of workloads.

“We are creating brand ambassadors for lots of clients,” she says. “Again, we’re using loads of humans to do the creative work behind it, so there are brains that can prompt and decide on characters and personality. We even have a head of character, among other new and exciting creative jobs. I see AI being like a creative calculator. It’s your creativity and the machine working together.” Van der Velden says a number of high-profile companies are working with Particle6, which retains a huge client list from across film, TV, brands, ad agencies and marketing. She also points to the wider benefits for brands, such as faster turnarounds, reduced carbon footprints and being able to expand creative possibilities. “If you want an animal in the snow, for example, you don’t have to fly to Lapland with the whole crew to do that,” she says. According to Van der Velden, there are lots of brands out there that have seen a positive response from AI. “It’s about being prepared, knowing your customer and knowing whether they care about how the story is told.” She stresses that staying ahead of the curve is vital if

SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME? Tilly Norwood has divided critics, but Van der Velden believes these dialogues are good for the industry

SHOWSTOPPER Van der Velden plans to bring an interactive Tilly Norwood to the stage at IBC

“At Particle6, we have really clear guidelines in place for the whole team as to what we think is acceptable,” she says. “If we were working with an estate, we would need explicit consent and compensation in order to work with them. cancelled. While the idea was rejected at the time, it now looks increasingly like something we can expect to see more of in the future. Van der Velden suggests that in cases like this, it’s all about the ethical framework. War. The production company behind the project was met with widespread outrage, and the film ultimately ended up being

» WE HAVE CLEAR GUIDELINES IN PLACE FOR THE TEAM AS TO WHAT WE THINK IS ACCEPTABLE «

“Ideally, we would also want consent from the person before they passed away, but obviously that isn’t possible in a case like the James Dean film. I do think there will be hype about bringing people back from the dead in the coming years, but I think experimentation should be encouraged.” While AI continues to open up creative possibilities, there are still many concerns about whether or not the technology will end up replacing performers. What will ultimately be gained from resurrecting actors from the past, and is this actually what audiences want? Being a fan of James Dean myself, I admit that the possibility of seeing him grace the big screen once again is exciting. However, seeing Dean (who was a well-known pacifist) being resurrected to star in a war film (a war that began after his death, no less) just feels inherently wrong. Although there are no current plans for Particle6 to bring back any stars, they are currently developing an interactive version of Norwood. The plan is to debut her on stage at IBC alongside Van der Velden, where the pair will be discussing how creative industries can embrace AI. “This is the future,” says Van der Velden. “Brands will be able to create their own AI brand ambassadors that represent them and even speak at live events.” Actor, musician and now brand ambassador. Is there anything Tilly Norwood can’t do? If there’s one thing she’s proving through all the negative criticism, it’s that talent means very little without a human touch – a quality the world could use a lot more of right now.

companies are to adapt. “You really need the analytical brain and the creative brain to be working at the same time, because there are automations that will start to come into place as the system evolves. You’re starting to see this in China, where they can create scenes at the push of a button. It’s going to evolve fast, but I think human creativity is the most important.” Van der Velden argues that understanding how to use AI is vital. “You should get yourself ready for this new wave, where you will only have a job if you know how to use AI to do it,” she says. “That’s the most important thing for the next ten years.” The biggest misconception about AI, she argues, is that it will take everyone’s jobs. “We’re realising that, while you can sit behind your laptop and make a whole film by yourself, you still need a range of departments to create a premium product. “There are so many levels of expertise where you need humans and human creativity working alongside the AI in order to create the best possible outcome. Fortunately, we have been allowed to experiment in this space longer than other people.” Ethical framework Several years ago, a digital recreation of actor James Dean was announced to star in a film about the Vietnam

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BOLT6

FOUNDER & CEO Steve Carter

FOUNDED 2021

EMPLOYEES 100+

HEADQUARTERS London

hat does Bolt6 do? Bolt6 is a sports technology company

It has also won two Emmy Awards for its graphics, including the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award for its Baseball UmpCam AR tech. In tennis, Bolt6’s live electronic line-calling solution is one of four vendors certified for elite competition by the International Tennis Federation, which last year was rolled out across dozens of ATP and WTA Tour tournaments worldwide. It is also used by the Australian Open. What does the future hold? Together with some of the most brilliant minds in industry, Bolt6 is building a suite of optical tracking products with unprecedented levels of accuracy and sophistication. The company’s focus remains on three core pillars: optical tracking, video management and broadcast camera calibration.

» Bolt6 is dedicated to improving the experience of sport for everyone. Its groundbreaking products improve and transform officiating «

headquartered in London that develops high-precision optical tracking, cloud video replay and data systems to improve officiating, fan engagement and broadcast experiences across global sports. What are Bolt6’s core values? Bolt6 believes that it will continue to create an impact in technology and sport. It seeks to be open and honest, not just with each other but also with clients. Bolt6 also values that the needs of its team come before its own. Why does Bolt6 stand out to us? It is dedicated to improving the experience of sport for everyone. Its groundbreaking products improve and transform officiating, athlete and fan experience, and drive commercial performance for competition organisers. officiating technology to never fail an official test, the fastest system to be officially approved for use in international tennis and volleyball and the only officially approved cloud-based technology. Shotlink 2.0 is the optical tracking technology driving the reimagination of PGA Tour data collection. It also has Cloud Replay, the only pro replay experience for anyone with a device and an internet connection. Bolt6’s clients use Cloud Replay to generate new revenue streams, operational models and ways to work collaboratively. What are some of its core technologies? Sentinel is the only sports

AI fatigue is real, but agentic AI could represent something genuinely different. We explore how autonomous agents could unlock huge opportunities – but only for those willing to rethink how they operate

Words by Verity Butler

I'M

going to begin this by addressing the robot- shaped elephant in the room. I know people are really getting tired of talking and hearing about AI. In many respects, so am I. But it’s important to remember that AI is not simply one single technical entity, and instead actually comes in a large (and growing) number of shapes and sizes. From generative to predictive, conversational to agentic, even Shrek would have to agree that this technical onion has many hidden layers.

Ogres aside, innovation in AI – and our understanding of how it can be used – is snowballing. In this instance, we are going to be looking at the agentic variant, which has already been making considerable waves across the broadcast and streaming tech sector. One thing that quickly became clear to me when sitting down with industry experts to discuss this topic is that this sector in particular provides an excellent proving ground for what can be achieved with this widely misunderstood tool. “But what actually is agentic AI?” I found myself asking each interviewee. Maria Minaricova is the director of business development at Fetch.ai, and she distinguishes it clearly from the more commonly understood forms. “Agency means autonomy,” she outlines. “The idea is that I am able to speak to my agent and give it commands, but then the agent goes out and tries to achieve that on my behalf. This is one of the biggest differences, as people often immediately think of GenAI when it comes to agentic. Generative AI generates things: text, images, etc. Agentic means to achieve goals on behalf of its owner.” Greater autonomy is one of agentic’s many flashy advantages over its generative predecessors, which are often limited by the information contained in the datasets upon which models are trained. “This wave of agentic AI will become quite spectacular when it truly hits the major broadcasters,” emphasises Paras Chugh, who is an associate practice leader for HFS Research. “But they need to start moving on it now, as content is getting commoditised fast. Everyone can become a creator right now with the right open weight models and other tools, but the key differentiation is the one who holds the IP.” Why now? Industry buzzwords come and go so fast it’s difficult for even those of us constantly writing about them to keep up. Some might question whether agentic AI is just another breed of AI mania that will fade out into the background in a few years’ time – or whether it really is that next tech wonder to completely alter the world’s course. Trevor Neal, CEO of RedSquid TV, highlights to us his own decades’ worth of experience in helping industries embrace transformative technology. “I’m probably best known for being one of the original team members behind the M Star Digital TV Group,” he begins. “You may never have heard of M Star, but it was launched during a time when the television industry was going through the change of analogue transmission to digital, and then from digital to smart TV.”

This period holds a mirror to what we face at present, with the market at the time moving from the old, big CRT televisions to flat panel. Like now, it also seemed that a lot of those companies were just adding bits and bobs to legacy TV set-ups without thinking long-term strategy. “We came along,” Neal continues, “and started from a blank sheet of paper, designing a digital TV from scratch. As a result, we took over the world. Within five years, almost every television manufacturer you can think of was using M Star silicon in its products. We ended up with a very dominant worldwide market share simply because we started again. I think BBC iPlayer and YouTube were the first apps that we began to port.” Neal believes we are now at the tip of a very similar-scale iceberg, citing another world-changing example that many of us can remember well. “There’s an analogy I would like to use – relating to the mobile phone industry back in 2006. The leaders at that stage were Nokia and Ericsson, and then two things happened. The first was that you were able to get high-bandwidth internet on the phone. The second

was that the processor in the phone became very fast. The end result was the birth of smartphones.” This allowed Apple and Google to suddenly usurp the number-one spot that had been defiantly held by the previous mobile behemoths for many years. And it was the data and processing power upgrades that were the culprits. “Now if you fast-forward to the present, the same two things are happening again. Most people’s homes now have fibre or very high-bandwidth broadband, and the processors inside a television set have followed the same route that the smartphone went through. “What that means is the television is going to run new forms of applications and entertainment that were not thought about five years ago. This is a time where we will see the smart TV era begin to run its course and what we call the ‘intelligent TV’ era will begin to rise.” Paras Chugh recently co-wrote a report on the wider industry that took a similar view. It is called ‘Media leaders can explore the next growth wave of agentic AI to reclaim control’. The report claims that ‘broadcasters have

First wave: The ‘media trilemma’ to the ‘media trifecta’ Solved through distribution platforms leveraging first-party data

User-generated content (UGC)

Legacy broadcasters

Reach

✔ ✔

✔

Engagement Monetisation

✘

✔

Content Personalisation (reach)

Reach

Distribution platform

Media trilemma

Media Trilemma trifecta

Engagement

Monetisation

Commerce Ad targeting (monetisation)

Community Vertical shorts (engagement)

Premium OTT platforms

Reach

✘

Select big tech platforms have approached elements of what we describe as the media trifecta, accounting for a significant share of global digital as spend, according to EMARKETER.

Engagement Monetisation

✔ ✔

become aggregators of leading IP and distribution platforms, but still struggle with profit margins’; however, ‘publicly reported data indicates that tech-native platforms such as Netflix have achieved operating margins in the 30% range and annual growth of over 20% in recent reporting periods’. Chugh shares his thoughts on the origins of this issue: “In the 20th century, the media broadcasters were the people running the show. They had control over all three of the pillars – which I call the ‘media trifecta’. They had reach, engagement and monetisation. They had strong control over their distribution channels, they had all the ad spends attributed to them and they were not just running the monetisation but also the culture.” The reference to the birth of smartphones is something Chugh also observes, but in a different light from Neal. “The first wave of disruption was the internet and smartphones,” he explains. “Both of these disrupted two pillars of that media trifecta. What the internet took was distribution, and as a result it took monetisation. The second pillar of the trifecta, which is engagement, collapsed with the advent of smartphones.” Where does the value lie? Both Chugh and Neal have made it clear: the industry is at a make-or-break point when it comes to harnessing agentic AI. Next, we need to understand the opportunities available and how to implement them strategically. An innovative example arose in July 2026, when Fetch. ai and RedSquid TV announced the world’s first operator- grade agentic AI TV platform – combining Fetch’s AI technology with RedSquid’s end-to-end TV operating system. Founded in 2017, Fetch.ai is a decentralised, blockchain-based machine-learning platform that builds autonomous AI agents to automate everyday tasks and economic transactions. “Some of our core products include ASI, which is our own, agentic LLM,” expands Minaricova. “It connects all the agents in the background and provides a user with their own personal AI. We also have agents that are registering in AgentVerse, which is a marketplace where anyone can build an agent, with its own tools and tech stacks. The agents can find each other, negotiate, transact and communicate.” Like the approach back in the day with M Star, RedSquid is looking to rebuild television sets from the ground up, and partnerships with the likes of Fetch.ai demonstrate the company’s strides to reach that goal. “There will be two types of applications that will emerge in the next few years,” Neal highlights. “There’ll be ones that make your life easier but that will cost the TV maker or the AI vendor. But then there’ll be applications which the user will like to use – but actually offer the AI vendor a chance to start monetising through the television.” Unlike conventional smart TV platforms, RedSquid TV controls the complete software stack. This unique architecture with embedded edge-AI hooks enables Fetch to tailor its agentic platform specifically for RedSquid TV, allowing autonomous AI agents to become deeply integrated within the operating system itself. As edge

AI capability advances, those agents will increasingly execute directly within the television, reducing latency, lowering cloud costs and enabling faster, more private and responsive experiences. The result presents a fundamentally different kind of television. Rather than navigating apps and menus, viewers simply express an intent: “Plan a family movie night,” “book the holiday featured in this documentary,” “order everything I need to cook this recipe.” Behind the scenes, intelligent AI agents discover content, compare services, coordinate smart home devices, manage subscriptions, complete purchases and orchestrate digital services all on behalf of the household – and that’s all through natural conversation with the television. Minaricova also highlights the enormous opportunities this brings when it comes to personalisation. “In one household you could have several TVs, watched by young children, adults, seniors, etc. Everybody has slightly different preferences and is consuming content in different ways.” Agentic AI handles this by unlocking a hyper- personalised viewing experience, which reacts and adapts autonomously to the varying preferences of different members of the household. As well as personalisation, a core opportunity found in Chugh’s report is a sense of control being returned to broadcasters. “Going forward,” he says, “IP-based content will be extremely valuable, as it provides soul to the content, which is currently missing in a lot of the AI slop we see across many distribution platforms at the moment. That would be the first important opportunity to grab as media broadcaster. “I recently met the chief AI officer of Hasbro,” he adds. “And they had a really innovative use case, which they termed ‘behavioural licensing’.” Hasbro owns a diverse portfolio of major IPs such as Transformers and Peppa Pig . It, like many others, has had to confront the challenge of people using AI to create fake content based off the IP, leaving it unable to monetise it. “What they decided to do is complete the picture,” Chugh continues. “They recently partnered with ElevenLabs to create licensable content of the voices or even videos from its IPs, which means any brand can come along and license the use of them officially. That means the quality would not deteriorate, and the brand are therefore happy because they are then able to create IP-led content at scale.” Another set of opportunities that emerged from Chugh’s research centred around content moderation and localisation. “These were already important considerations long before agentic AI reached the market. All the major tech giants were already moderating social media content through analytics and tools already available. But, with agentic AI, this is only going to accelerate and start to become affordable for the smaller players in the market and local broadcasters too.”

» TELEVISION GOES IN WAVES. WE HAD ANALOGUE, WE HAD

DIGITAL, WE HAD SMART. THOSE ERAS COME AND GO. THE NEXT ERA IS GOING TO BE INTELLIGENT «

He emphasises the possibilities this can present in terms of accessibility for viewers often sat at the bottom of a broadcaster’s priority list. “In India, there are many AI models that are trying to become regional content players – because there’s no AI model that’s been trained across Marathi and Haryanvi, or some of these local languages in India – of which I believe there are over 30.” Who’s really in control? AI has been controversial from day dot. But the continued emergence of agentic opportunities brings with it chances of a fresh start when it comes to the pressure points around privacy, data and human involvement. We’ve heard the term software as a service (SaaS) thrown around in the media-tech landscape for quite some time, but HFS recently coined a new spin on the old phrase. “We trademarked service as a software,” Chugh explains, “as opposed to the commonly used version. The idea is for human expertise to become the core of an organisation, while AI becomes the scaling agent or accelerator, which provides a value jump and can unlock the ‘DREAM’ framework’.” Keeping humans in the loop is a common assertion when it comes to AI adoption. But Chugh offers an addendum to this take.

“I would say there needs to be a human at the end of the loop, where humans can govern these agents. They can close the loops which are started by the AI agents and also manage them throughout their lifecycle. What’s happening right now with pilots is that a lot of organisations are creating agents and running them throughout the enterprise, but nobody is monitoring them.” Chugh breaks down the ‘DREAM framework’ in his report, where the ‘D’ is about defining your vision, while the ‘M’ is about measurable business outcomes. “This is so important,” he expands, “because a lot of CEOs think of AI as a magic wand that, once implemented, solves all of their workflow inefficiencies.” Minaricova echoes Chugh’s opinion: “People should absolutely stay in the loop and make sure they don’t rely solely on AI. A way of looking at it is that humans have, over the years, become increasingly comfortable with autonomy. A good example is flight travel, which now largely relies on autopilot. Despite this, you always want to have that human there to make those critical decisions.” Fears around privacy and personal data is one of AI’s most pervasive roadblocks. Neal emphasises why the partnership between RedSquid TV and Fetch.ai has come at such a key time, particularly due to these concerns. “Telco operators like BT, Vodafone, Virgin Media – they all spent a fortune digging up roads to run fibre into our

If there’s ever an industry that wrestles with legacy equipment and processes, it is broadcast. “Only they themselves can solve the legacy infrastructure problem,” agrees Chugh. “They need to look at replacing that – but on top of this the outlook towards AI needs to be changed by the leadership. Right now, leaders think of it as a technology problem and hand it over to their CTOs. In reality, this needs to be shared across the organisation – and each department needs to prioritise it. AI isn’t just an overlay above your existing infrastructure, it’s a complete transformation to all the workflows and processes you have.” Neal and his team’s work at RedSquid has only just begun, and as he did with M Star, he is starting to put a pen to that blank sheet of paper. He says: “If you put the team that pioneered the smart TV movement with the team that’s beginning to make a real difference in agentic AI, what can you really create? Television goes in waves. We had analogue, we had digital, we had smart. Those eras come and go. The next era is going to be intelligent.” There is certainly a sense that we are on the precipice of something great when it comes to agentic AI. Minaricova takes us back 20 years to the last time this happened, to demonstrate just how great this might be. “Think back to the nineties and noughties when the internet came along and no one really understood what it could achieve – and how much it would totally transform our lives. Now, here we are 30 years later and the internet plays a central role in almost every area of our lives. “But I like to think of the internet as two dimensional. It’s just information you search through. But agents offer that third dimension; where they go out, armed with information and goals from the owners, and then actively reach out to other agents to achieve those goals.”

homes, and most people aren’t using all that capability. As new applications surface, that unused broadband pipe can start getting truly leveraged. That leads onto the idea of the whole chain beginning to come from broadband operators themselves, where they also supply the display; making sure that Wi-Fi and TV works perfectly with your router – and using AI in the background to help ensure that.” If broadband providers took control of the TV platforms themselves, this could in theory allow more effective monetisation – which aligns neatly with the findings of Chugh’s HFS report. “At the moment, smart TVs monetise largely through user data and home screen advertising,” Neal elaborates. “If the intelligent TVs were supplied by the broadband operators, they’re already monetising through your £20-a-month payment. That therefore means they are able to provide you a much better-quality service, while giving intelligent TVs the potential for the user to have a refreshingly clean viewing experience.” Broadband providers around the world tend to be national companies. Neal believes that, if they sat at the start of the television-set chain, that would keep people’s data both in their television and the country they are watching it from. “The privacy angle is really important because at the minute, every TV you buy on the high street is monetised by a foreign TV platform owner. You have no control over the data it collects about you, or any idea of where it goes.” Is the industry ready? Fears around human oversight and privacy aside, one of the biggest hurdles facing businesses when it comes to effective agentic AI rollout is actually the one already on the track. “What we’re seeing across industries is that enterprises are getting stuck at the pilot stage,” says Chugh. “As a result, they’re unable to reach AI adoption at an enterprise-wide level, where the true value of AI gets unlocked.”

Read the full report from HFS here: hfsresearch.com/ research/growth-wave-reclaim-value

The DREAM framework for establishing AI-native M&E enterprises

Content supply chain Define Across the ecosystem Associate D R E A Data and platforms Reinvent New operating model Establish

Audience persona and KPIs Measure M

l Story-centric production

l Unified data platform

l Agentic AI

l Strategic

l Personalisation

architecture

partnerships

l Automation and collaboration

l Platform

l Governance and org structure

l Compliance and interoperability

l Audience

consolidation

measurement

SOURCE: HFS RESEARCH, 2026

We reconnect with NASA+’s general manager, Rebecca Sirmons, who shares her biggest takeaways from April’s Artemis II mission – and what to expect next “SPACE IS A TEAM SPORT”

Words by Katie Kasperson Images by NASA

ebecca Sirmons was admittedly shocked when Artemis II broke NASA’s streaming record. General manager at NASA+, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s streaming arm, she had initially expected around 25 million viewers to tune in between the Orion rocket launch on 1 April and the splashdown nine days later. The actual number reached nearly 150 million. The launch itself, which propelled a four-astronaut crew towards the Earth’s moon, quickly became the most-watched live event in NASA’s history, with a combined peak of 3.66 million and

23.9 million total views across the agency’s streaming services – including NASA+, YouTube, Twitch, external streamers and national broadcasters. The Spanish- language broadcast, NASA en Español, brought in an additional 2.8 million total views, highlighting the agency’s continued commitment to its founding mission: to reach the widest practicable audience. “We had three major live broadcasts, we had NASA+ and we had a 24/7 feed going on YouTube,” says Sirmons. “In today’s world, it’s ‘tune in, tune out’. This was live over ten days, and we saw growth.” After establishing partnerships with Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple TV, NASA had requests from Peacock and HBO Max to add Artemis II streams to their platforms, too. “We want to meet the audience where they’re at,” Sirmons shares. “I feel like we did that and then some.” Testing, testing While the Artemis II mission could be considered an overwhelming success, it was part of a larger purpose: to get NASA’s astronauts back on the moon. Humans have docked there six times; the last lunar landing was in 1972, on Apollo 17, just three years after Neil Armstrong uttered the words: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Put simply, it’s been a while. Artemis II “was a test flight,” Sirmons confirms. The Orion saw its crew shoot past the moon – referred to as a lunar fly-by – before returning to Earth’s atmosphere. “The world was travelling with this amazing crew. They were right there with them. It was a human moment. That taught me a lot about the future and what we should provide and keep an eye out for. And we need to provide more.” NASA’s streaming strategy prioritised digital-first delivery, but traditional cable TV had a role to play, too. CNN, ABC News and Fox News ran continuous digital coverage alongside their televised broadcasts, which included multi-hour specials dedicated to the capsule’s Pacific splashdown, bringing the Artemis II mission to a close. In 2026, social media moments can make all the difference. NASA hosted continuous live streams on YouTube and Twitch, connecting with a global audience via the platforms’ interactive chat functionalities. Meanwhile, its TikTok and Instagram feeds were much more curated, used for highlights, live Q&As and astronaut-led content – like zero-gravity snacking sessions and aerial views

of Earth. NASA’s accounts generated 261 million total engagements between 27 March and 13 April this year; its Instagram following grew by 4.6 million, while its YouTube channel welcomed two million new subscribers. As NASA prepares for Artemis III, the lunar orbit mission scheduled for 2027, “that’s again going to be about testing, to prepare us for the next moon landing,” says Sirmons. “I hope the world tunes in for that as well.” Plans in place Although broadcasters and streaming services shared live footage of the Artemis II mission at work, the content all came from NASA. “They are distributing it to their

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS The Artemis II launch (left) pulled in nearly 24 million views across NASA’s livestreaming services

customers in the way they know best,” Sirmons says of her partners. “I was really excited that HBO Max has Dolby Vision.” Those viewers could reap the benefits of HDR video. “We had all our partners on a call,” she adds, in case anything went awry in real time. Luckily, nothing did (Houston, no problems here!). “We had no capacity issues,” which was arguably the largest concern – especially since the viewership was significantly higher than they had anticipated. “We were fine. Our partners were fine. We totally pulled it off.” Artemis II also featured the first use of the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System (O2O), using laser-based communications instead of traditional radio to beam signals back down to Earth. The system uses invisible infrared light to send and receive data in a single transmission, making it a more efficient transfer method. During the lunar fly-by, Orion sent the first-ever 4K live stream from deep space to two ground stations in New Mexico and California – locations selected for their mild climates and clear skies, minimising signal disruption. Sirmons expects Artemis IV, the moon landing scheduled for 2028, to hit 250 million viewers – at least. “I want to grow our capacity,” she says. “I want to work with more partners. The more partnerships, the more platforms, the better. I want the audience to have the freedom to be like: ‘This is where I prefer to watch things.’ Boom, NASA is there.” NASA, according to Sirmons, is known for its contingency planning: “We’re dealing with human life.” On the streaming side, it’s not so serious – but “our infrastructure has so many redundancies built in. We’re making sure that we can go live in less than 20 minutes. Our team works fast – we have protocol set up. For example,” she continues, “if our hub at the Marshall Space Flight Center went down, we can hop to different places. We’re set up already to deal with that. We’re still a fairly new platform, but because we’re NASA, we have to be ready.” Making history In 1972, culture was culture; it was shared, objectively, by everybody. Cut to 50-plus years later, and our interests are increasingly algorithmic, our culture increasingly niche. But NASA still connects us. “There aren’t any cultural moments any more – not really,” argues Sirmons, who claims the last one was the Ellen Oscars selfie. “This was an actual pop culture moment. It brought people from all different places, countries, together. And the fact that it was organic…” she trails off. To finish the thought, it is impressive, to say the least. Space exploration has the ability to restore widespread curiosity, international cooperation and faith in humanity, which occasionally falters. “Space, period, is a team sport,” Sirmons states. “Space flight is a team sport and streaming is also a team sport. The two align fairly well. Our partners,” she adds, “we treat them as colleagues. I work with them on an ongoing basis to ensure success. It’s my job to communicate and make sure that these platforms know that big things are coming.” We don’t know what’s in store, exactly, besides subject- to-change dates for the next two Artemis missions. On

ON A HIGH NASA+ is aware of space exploration’s unique ability to connect people through shared cultural moments

» There aren’t any cultural moments any more – not really. But this was an actual pop culture moment that brought people together «

NASA+, “we have some original documentaries coming out soon; they haven’t been publicly announced yet, but we do have some pretty darn good ones,” Sirmons reveals. “We have more Artemis-geared content, more mission-focused, which I think the audience will be excited about. Moonbound , our series about the Artemis II mission and the crew behind it all – that’s our number- one series on NASA+. We’re going to keep on leaning in that direction.” A not-for-profit, government-funded organisation, NASA doesn’t have ‘Olympic or World Cup-level staffing’ for its streaming leg, Sirmons admits. “We’re small but incredibly mighty. We have an amazing team that works behind the scenes; they were on it for ten days straight, 24/7. That’s who pulled this off. It’s still hard to wrap our minds around it.” There is a lot left to do – and look forward to. “The great news is that we’re just getting started,” confirms Sirmons. “I would hope Artemis IV will be the world’s largest livestreaming event. We’re going to break that record – and it’s going to be through us and our partners working together.” Despite solid viewership numbers for the launches of both Artemis I – an uncrewed lunar flight test – and the James Webb Space Telescope – which actively orbits the Sun and observes our Universe – “we haven’t had this many people watching since the Apollo era,” claims Sirmons. “We have the world’s attention. The odds are very thin, to have that in this fragmented media environment. It’s practically impossible – and that’s what we do. We pull off the impossible on a daily basis.” She, like all those who have become invested in Artemis, can’t wait for what comes next. “Dust off those boots,” she decrees. “We’re going to the moon.”

» We haven’t had this many people watching since the Apollo era... It’s practically impossible, but we pull that off on a daily basis «

DOWN TO EARTH Sirmons says NASA+’s streaming department is relatively small, but it is ready to bring the next mission to viewers around the world

F ew buildings carry the cultural and architectural significance of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família. Antoni Gaudí’s masterpiece has spent well over a century under construction, and in June, Pope Leo XIV visited to commemorate the centenary of Gaudí’s death and officially inaugurate the Tower of Jesus Christ – the central spire that now stands at 172.5m. Capturing such a moment was never going to be a conventional outside broadcast. Catalonia’s national broadcaster 3Cat (TV3) deployed around 20 cameras from Sony’s Cinema Line, combining ten VENICE 2 systems, seven ILME-FR7 remotely operated cameras and three ILME-FX6 cameras. Powered by PhotoCine’s live OB truck, the production delivered broadcast-quality coverage from the landmark. Its soaring interiors, changing natural light and inaccessible camera positions demanded a technical yet creative approach. Paulí Subirà Claramunt, director of photography at 3Cat, says it saw the production as an opportunity to push creative and technical boundaries. “Catalonia’s national television broadcaster is always at the forefront of audio-visual technology so, on such a special occasion – the completion of a monument as iconic as the Sagrada Família – we had to rise to the challenge.”

As the Sagrada Família nears its historic completion, Sony’s Cinema Line helped elevate a global live broadcast into a cinematic spectacle Sony takes live cine to Sagrada

While 3Cat had experimented with broadcast cinematography workflows, introducing cinema cameras into a live production raised the stakes. “We produced the musical Mar i Cel in the broadcast cinematography format, gaining experience with the tools and workflows. The difference is that, with the Sagrada Família, the live broadcast adds an extra layer of complexity,” Subirà says. A whole ecosystem Sony’s Cinema Line system was selected because each camera fulfilled a distinct production role. The VENICE 2 handled the principal cinematic shots, while the ILME- FR7 remote pan-tilt-zoom cameras captured inaccessible viewpoints

without disrupting the ceremony. The compact ILME-FX6 units offered mobility for dynamic shots. Sony Cinema Line cameras fed into PhotoCine’s OB3 mobile unit, working alongside a Sony XVS production switcher and Sony PVM-X and BVM-HX reference monitors to deliver an international UHD-HDR HLG feed. Project manager and production technical manager Hector Sole- Bradshaw Beltran explains: “With its Cinema Line range, Sony is able to provide solutions for all the necessary segments of a project of this scale.” The VENICE 2 proved particularly valuable once daylight faded. “For the main cameras, the cinematic heritage of the VENICE and the 3200 ISO sensitivity of the VENICE 2’s sensor makes them the perfect choice for a night-time spectacle where light takes centre stage,” he says. For creative director Igor Cortadellas, light became the defining narrative device. “We found ourselves with a visual poem in which light is more than a technical resource: it is the soul of the story. It is not simply about capturing reality, but revealing the emotion within it.” For more on Sony’s cinematic live offering, visit its stand at IBC Hall 13 or go to pro.sony.eu

OUT WITH A BANG Philly's America 250 celebrations closed with a concert and fireworks display

J FUSCO

Philadelphia played a major role in the American Revolution. We explore how the City of Brotherly Love planned to mark the US semiquincentennial America 250: Live from Philadelphia

Words by Katie Kasperson

B esides Boston, Philadelphia was arguably the second- most significant city in establishing the United States as an independent nation. It’s where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was also the country’s capital before Washington, DC. While Boston might be

cancelled due to extreme heat. But the events continued at the National Constitution Center, where Pope Leo XIV (who attended Philadelphia’s Villanova University) joined in virtually from the Vatican to receive the 38th annual Liberty Medal. On 4 July – an annual US holiday – Philly wrapped its America 250 revelries with a concert and fireworks finale, streamed live from Benjamin Franklin Parkway (which connects City Hall with the Art Museum). Headlined by Christina Aguilera, plus Philly’s own Will Smith and Jill Scott, the concert started late, again wrestling with high temperatures and heavy storms. (Anyone who attended the FIFA World Cup round of 16 match down at Lincoln Financial Field, which was also that day, could tell you how hot it was). The fireworks followed, wrapping at around 3am Eastern – and marking the grandest display in the city’s July 4th history.

Philadelphia and Spanish-language Telemundo62 TV stations broadcast the 16-day festival, including the Liberty Medal ceremony and July 4th Philly Concert and Fireworks. All of the major broadcasts were available for free, in English, on the NBC10 Philadelphia app, NBC10. com and the local NBC Philadelphia News streaming channel. Other local news teams joined the fun, including FOX 29 and CBS Philadelphia, providing on-site reporting, interviews and

dubbed the birthplace of the American Revolution, Philly is the birthplace of Wawa, the beloved

traffic tracking – although NBC10 retained rights to the main events. On 3 July, the Salute to Independence Semiquincentennial

convenience store that’s found only in select East Coast states. It’s fitting that Philly’s America 250 celebration was titled ‘Wawa Welcome America’. From 19 June to 4 July, the NBC10

Parade – set to be the largest professionally produced 250th anniversary parade in the country – was ultimately

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