1997: IBC Award - Editor's Award For Technological Achievement for developing Digital Terrestrial TV Trial Network

The BBC has come in for a lot of criticism over its management changes in recent years, but one thing is certain: it is a genuine force in world broadcast technology research at a time when other broadcasters are leaving the research to the market. In the last year alone, the BBC spent nearly £10m on research and development and nowhere has this borne more fruit than in the organisation's efforts to put the world's first digital terrestrial broadcasting service on air in 1998.

The 1997 Editor's Award for Technological Achievement goes to the BBC for its trial network in Newcastle and London that has not only proven a lot of the ideas of the DVB-T committee, but has also added a great deal of practical development that helped set the world DVB-T standard in stone.

Using BBC R&D-designed DVB-T COFDM modulators and demodulators, the BBC trial network has been tested with ATM links and cross-strapped streams via ( DVB-S ) satellites that downlinked to terrestrial transmitters for re-broadcast with regional opt-ins.

DVB was a splendid example of pan-industry collaboration, but it takes guts and money to actually build and test the stuff. Well done to the BBC for having the wit and the wisdom to bring the world's first digital terrestrial broadcasting service to air.