TECHNOLOGY & FACILITIES - Cheff to launch a unified spec.

The Chief Engineers of Facilities Forum (Cheff), the UK facilities trade body, is to launch a unified broadcast delivery specification at this year's Production Show.The document will for the first time pull together the different specifications set by each broadcaster. It is the first result of a year-long initiative to harmonise these various specifications and will make it easier for facilities to meet broadcasters' requirements.Initiative coordinator for Cheff Jeff Booth of Soho Images said: 'Many of the existing specs hark back to fairly arbitrary engineering decisions made long ago in a time of open-reel tape formats and in-house post-production. These decisions have become enshrined in custom and practice and need a fresh look in the light of modern requirements such as widescreen and server-based transmission systems.'The move has been welcomed by broadcasters including Carlton, Channel 4 and the BBC, who support the principle of a unified document although many of them have also been reviewing their own delivery specs. BBC Television principal technologist Wes Curtis said: 'Anything that helps to converge technical standards is good for commissioners, programme-makers, resource providers and broadcasters.'The document will be more concise than the broadcasters' own specifications as it will concentrate on post-production only. Studios and outside broadcasts are scheduled to be addressed at a later date.The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) technology management committee is to discuss the Cheff broadcast delivery document at its next meeting in June and there is a possibility that an EBU recommendation could result.The Cheff specification will be released at a special seminar about broadcast delivery standards to be held in the Engineering Technology Centre at the Production Show in Olympia on Wednesday 22 May. Further details are available from www.cheff.org.uk.