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Broadcast has long ceased to be an isolated ecosystem. For decades, the media industry operated within relatively well-defined boundaries, with broadcasters, manufacturers, telecommunications operators and technology providers performing clearly differentiated roles. Today, however, those boundaries are becoming increasingly difficult to identify.

The transition towards software-based, IP and cloud environments has accelerated a convergence that extends far beyond technology. Companies originating from the IT sector are no longer simply infrastructure providers. They are also becoming involved, in one way or another, in areas that historically belonged to the media domain: content distribution, monetisation, artificial intelligence applied to media, and direct relationships with audiences.

This new landscape creates clear opportunities, but it also brings new challenges. When the same company can simultaneously act as a strategic technology supplier, a digital transformation partner and a stakeholder with its own interests within the content ecosystem, traditional market dynamics inevitably become more complex.

At the same time, media organisations are changing the way they engage with technology. Rather than relying on project-based approaches or one-off acquisitions, they are increasingly seeking partners capable of supporting long-term transformation processes.

FOX Corporation’s decision to designate AWS as its preferred AI and cloud provider is a good example of this trend, and in this issue we explore some of its implications. Beyond the agreement itself, it reflects a reality that is becoming increasingly visible: major media organisations no longer conceive their technological evolution without deep partnerships with companies originating from the IT world.