The ongoing world conference of the International Federation of Television Archive is exploring new ways to preserve audiovisual data. Participants all agree that it's the common responsibility of broadcasters worldwide to protect these precious national archives.

Vice President of China Central Television Hu En

Audio-visual archiving is now at the heart of the world's broadcasting operations, fully integrated in the production and broadcasting process. As a record of history, archive materials have become precious chronicles of human civilization.

Vice President Hu En said, "China Central Television has accumulated a large amount of audiovisual data during the past decades. It's not only an important asset of CCTV but also a valuable cultural legacy of China and the whole world. Collection, protection, development and use of archive is of vital importance for the sustainable development of a broadcaster like CCTV."

Participants discuss around a variety of topics including how to digitalize old tapes, how to improve the management of archives and what are the new activities, new tools and new roles concerning audiovisual data.

The FIAT/IFTA Beijing conference will conclude on Sunday.