News Broadcasting
BBC triumphs at RTS Technology Awards
MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC did well for itself at the Royal Television Society’s prestigious Technology Awards a few days ago.The RTS Technology Awards seek to recognise excellence in technological activities from ‘scene-to-screen and back’.
The BBC won in six out of the eight categories, including a Lifetime Achievement award for Chris Clarke of BBC Research and Development.
Clarke was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award for the outstanding ‘back room’ work done over the past 30 years. This included work on digital PAL decoding and TV standards conversion in the Seventies, making possible a worldwide agreement on digital video standards.
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) new technology head David Wood said, “Without Chris Clarke’s contribution, there would be no ITU Rec 601, the cornerstone of digital television throughout the world. His conclusion that a PAL signal could be decoded by any sampling frequency, backed up by thorough studies, was the key to unlock the agreement on component coding, which led to the worldwide standard Rec 601.”
Commenting on the award, BBC DG Mark Thompson said, “Digital television is a central part of our plans for the future, and for future services to the public. And without the kind of back room work that Chris Clarke has done, both on standards and on the development of DTT, we wouldn’t be able to look forward to the future with such confidence. So on behalf of the whole BBC I’d like to salute him and thank him for all his work.”
The technical team behind the BBC Two series, Coast, also picked up the Technology in Content Delivery and Technology in Consumer Electronics awards for its Coast Mobile service, a ground-breaking initiative in conjunction with Gavitec AG and Hewlett-Packard, which allowed users to access audio and video material using symbols captured by a mobile phone camera.
BBC technological innovation was also recognised in the following categories:
Judges’ Award – BBC General Election Results programme, for advancing the way information was presented to viewers.
Technology in Content Creation, Capture or Restoration – for the BBC’s use of mobile phones in the newsgathering process, which the judges cited as “a European pioneer in its field.”
Research & Development Team – awarded to BBC Research & Development’s interactive team for the creation and delivery of interactive TV services for all the main digital TV delivery platforms.
News Broadcasting
India Today Group debuts AI anchor ‘Sutra’ at AI Impact Summit 2026
Sutra aims to simplify live policy debates using sovereign AI models
NEW DELHI: India Today Group has unveiled Sutra, an AI-driven news anchor designed to deliver real-time, contextual reporting, marking the group’s latest push to integrate artificial intelligence into mainstream journalism.
The AI anchor was introduced at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi and developed in collaboration with BharatGen, with the initiative showcased by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
India Today Group said Sutra is built to navigate complex policy discussions and fast-moving developments by synthesising information into concise, accessible insights, aimed at narrowing the gap between high-level debates and public understanding. The AI anchor was used to surface live takeaways from key sessions at the summit.
India Today Group chief AI officer Nilanjan Das, said the project was focused on clarity and accessibility without diluting editorial rigour. He added that working with BharatGen aligned the group’s AI ambitions with India’s broader push towards sovereign technology capabilities.
BharatGen CEO Rishi Bal, said the partnership reflected a shift from basic automation towards deeper contextual intelligence in media. He emphasised the importance of indigenous, multimodal AI models capable of understanding Indian languages, regional dialects and cultural nuance, particularly as AI-driven news formats gain traction.
The launch positions India Today Group among the first major Indian media houses to deploy an AI anchor backed by home-grown technology, underscoring a growing convergence between journalism, public policy and sovereign AI infrastructure.
