The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union is to honour David Wood, EBU Deputy Director, Technology and Development, for his outstanding contributions to the development of broadcasting technology system standards. The Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Mr Wood at the ABU Technical Committee meeting in New Delhi, on 3 November.

Mr Wood said he was humbled to have been selected, but added that it was a great honour to be able to work in a field that touches the lives of people around the world.

"International agreements on technical standards enable a global approach to broadcasting, which is an important part of promoting international understanding, cooperation and progress," he said. "Technology is always evolving, and there will always be a need for common specifications that control the way technology is applied and ensure people can get the very most from it."

Summarizing its reasons for selecting Mr Wood, the ABU cited his leading role in establishing ITU Recommendation 601, which today forms the basis of the world's digital television standards.

Among his other major contributions to the industry are the EBU/AES digital audio interface, the DVB digital TV project, his role in mentoring the International Academy of Broadcasting in Montreux and his dogged efforts to identify methods of evaluating TV picture quality.

While his chairmanship of the ITU broadcasting working parties is impressive, it is his visionary thinking about the future of broadcasting, from 3DTV to UHDTV, that has grabbed press and media industry attention.

David Wood is widely recognised as an authority in the broadcasting industry, and has picked up many honours throughout his career. He is the chairman of the World Broadcasting Unions Technical Committee, and has authored more than 100 technical papers, articles and book chapters on diverse subjects.

Previous recipients of the ABU Distinguished Service Award include Kenji Nagai, Executive Director General NHK and Professor Mark Krivocheev, the Chairman Emeritus of the ITU-R broadcasting study group.