Archive notice: This article was originally published on September 10, 2005. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
During its IBC press conference, Panasonic surprisingly announced that it would no longer exhibit at the trade fair next year and “for the foreseeable future.”
According to the company, several reasons led to this decision: Among the various factors influencing the purchasing decisions of broadcast professionals, trade fairs were losing importance. Instead, customers informed themselves via the Internet and web forums.
“Massive marketing tools” had demonstrably been unsuccessful, Panasonic states, and therefore intends to choose other forms of addressing customers in future. The search for ways to save costs had not been the main focus of the decision. Rather, it was already planning a larger budget for activities next year.
“This decision has nothing to do with IBC or the city of Amsterdam,” emphasized Jaume Rey, General Manager, Panasonic Broadcast Europe, thus addressing ongoing discussions about a change of venue. Together with the trade fair, it would look for ways to continue contributing to IBC in future.
At the trade fair, the company is showing, among other things, the AG-HVX200 camera, the first HD/SD multi-format camcorder that records on P2 cards in 1080/50i, 25p, in 720/50p, 25p or records video as DVCPRO50, DVCPRO or DV.
