Broadband is growing more important as a delivery method for public service media organizations; and so it's no surprise that interest in the EBU's annual BroadThinking event has been growing too. This year's event takes place in Geneva next week, with two days of technology updates, case studies, demos and discussions around trends in broadband delivery. Registration is still possible here.

Video delivery over broadband has come a long way since the first pioneers managed to deliver postage stamp-sized videos to PCs in the early days of the web. Following the subsequent rise of OTT media services - usually video and audio delivered over the unmanaged internet - we're now seeing a shift into a third era where quality is king.

The focus for broadcasters is now on maximizing the quality of experience for the end user. The use of techniques such as adaptive streaming, e.g. via MPEG-DASH, or the caching of popular content closer to the end user by means of CDNs (content delivery networks) are among the options EBU Members and others must consider. But with these choices come many questions, related to costs, regulatory frameworks and the behaviour of audiences.

At BroadThinking 2013 some of the leading experts in broadband delivery technologies will take delegates through the latest developments in CDNs, adaptive streaming, hybrid services and more. Demonstrations will include DASH players from a number of companies, HbbTV 1.5 testing and live services, plus a user-adaptive video streaming system.

For more information about BroadThinking 2013 - and to register for the event - visit the event page.

Photo above: At BroadThinking 2012, Ericsson's Eric Rosier presented industry predictions that by 2015 90% of all network traffic would be video.