With an eye on the close of 2025 and the immediate horizon of 2026, we have consulted diverse industry leaders who have collaborated with the magazine throughout the year, inviting them to share a reflection, based on their experience, on the year coming to an end and the one ahead. Drawing on their testimonies, we take stock of the year and anticipate the key factors that will shape the evolution of the broadcast industry

*This content is included in the December issue of TM BROADCAST. You can access the full magazine here.

The broadcast industry continues to move forward amid a complex process of transformation, in which new opportunities are emerging alongside significant challenges. This is one of the key conclusions of 2025. The transition is now unavoidable. However, when it comes to putting it into practice, difficulties arise that go beyond purely technological considerations and force the industry to rethink its models, structures and priorities.

To take the pulse of this pivotal moment, we have consulted a selection of industry leaders who have collaborated with the magazine over the past year, asking them for a review of 2025, a look ahead to 2026, and a broader reflection on the levers that will drive the sector’s growth in the medium and long term.

From this analysis, several common vectors emerge: the steady advance of the transition to IP; the progressive convergence of the broadcast, IT and ProAV worlds; growing challenges related to talent and cybersecurity; and, cutting across all of them, the impact of artificial intelligence.

We have divided this special feature —which can be read in full in the latest issue of TM BROADCAST— into seven sections. In this article, we outline the key takeaways from the chapter dedicated to limited resources and public cloud.

Ubaldo Toni (RAI): “The true path forward is to invest in young talent and build competence internally, rather than simply acquiring ready-made solutions”

Pressure on financial resources is another recurring theme in the experts’ analysis, particularly within the public service domain. The combination of shrinking budgets, rising technology costs and changing licensing models is directly constraining the investment and innovation capacity of many operators.

From the perspective of public broadcasters, Ubaldo Toni (RAI) describes a particularly challenging scenario. “Unfortunately, the financial resources available to public broadcasters are continually shrinking, and the trend is strongly negative,” he notes, citing the BBC as a reference case for a situation affecting the sector as a whole. In this context, the central challenge lies in reducing costs without compromising the quality standards that define public service broadcasting.

Toni also highlights another factor exacerbating this pressure: the sharp increase in software licensing costs and the gradual shift towards subscription-based models. “These models are not ideal for large corporations that prefer to make capital expenditure (CapEx) investments to be amortized over several years,” he explains, warning of an imbalance that has led to reduced investment and what he sees as a worrying medium- to long-term technological dependency.

Morten Brandstrup (TV 2): “Without a committed effort to allocate resources and foster a culture that encourages creative thinking and development, we risk stagnation”

In the short term, he acknowledges, priorities inevitably focus on cost-containment measures, such as reducing the industrial footprint in favour of more remote or “fluid” production models. However, he warns of the risks this poses to final product quality and, by extension, to public service standards.

As potential alternatives, Toni points to the use of open-source technologies or container-based virtualisation, while stressing that “their effective utilization requires a strong foundation of knowledge and training, elements that are increasingly difficult to cultivate compared to an off-the-shelf business solution.”

“The true path forward—though a challenging one—is to invest in young talent and build competence internally, rather than simply acquiring ready-made solutions from an industry that now seems focused only on short-term profit. I believe European public services should strongly share and develop this approach,” he concludes.

A similar concern is voiced by Morten Brandstrup (TV 2 Denmark), who, while championing innovation as a vital driver for the sector, questions whether sufficient resources will be available to sustain it in the future. “Without a committed effort to allocate resources and foster a culture that encourages creative thinking and development, we risk stagnation,” he warns, underscoring the need for continued investment to prevent a slowdown in industry evolution.

At the same time, the cost debate also extends to the use of public cloud. Jan Eveleens (Riedel) observes a shift in customer attitudes, with organisations adopting a more pragmatic view as they gain a clearer understanding of real costs and associated risks. “In terms of public cloud, we see customers becoming more realistic as they gain a better understanding of the actual costs and the associated risks, especially after some of the major outages we saw in 2025,” he notes.

Jan Eveleens (Riedel): “In terms of public cloud, we see customers becoming more realistic as they gain a better understanding of the actual costs and the associated risks”