News Broadcasting
Broadcasters spending billions archiving content: BTBS
HONG KONG: Media companies are estimated to be hoarding 6,700 years worth of TV, film and music content, costing them billions of pounds a year.
A recent report commissioned by BT Broadcast Services (BTBS) and compiled by Datamonitor, finds that this investment is also a sunk cost as most of the archived material is never used again, although the research suggests that digitising the archives and making them available online could finance the costs of today’s lost footage.
The white paper, ‘Digital Content Management and the True Cost – Staying Analogue’, highlights the spiralling costs and ignorance that surrounds archived content. Data for the report was collected over two years through interviews with senior executives from the TV, film and music industries.
Over the course of the research, Datamonitor was unable to find a single company that could accurately estimate the cost of keeping and distributing archived material. The research found that the average cost per hour of traditional archived content is 38, which includes: labour costs, physical storage, re-formatting and renewal. It cost an additional 75 to find, re-edit and distribute this content for re-use.
Despite these costs and the burgeoning use of digital technology, nearly all content is stored in analogue format, the report finds that digital storage would save 16 per hour on re-formatting costs alone. The average cost of delivering analogue content is estimated to be 75. The paper predicts that by 2004, 44 per cent of all new TV content will be digital.
Head of content services at BTBS David Jamieson said, “It’s not surprising that media owners are afraid of the digital revolution, after all most technological changes cost money and are complex and disrupting processes. But the true cost of doing nothing is astronomical and not an option anymore – particularly when you consider the huge, untapped revenue streams that a well publicised, digital archive represents.”
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.
