Hollywood bestows Emmy Award on UN telecommunications agency

The United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has received a coveted Emmy Award for its part in coming up with a means to allow high-quality video to reach devices ranging from mobile phones to High Definition Televisions.

The honour recognized the Joint Video Team – comprising the ITU, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) – for its highly efficient video compression method to significantly reduce both the bandwidth needed to deliver high-quality video and the space to store it.

The technology “is a jewel in the crown of international standards collaboration,” Malcolm Johnson, Director of ITU’s standardization bureau, said in his acceptance speech at a ceremony in Hollywood on Saturday.

“Its widespread adoption is testament to the flexibility and efficiency that has been engineered by a group of people that have dedicated themselves to achieving this goal,” he added.

Called H.264 | MPEG-4 AVC, the technology is used in products for companies such as Adobe, Apple, BBC, France Telecom, Motorola, Sony and Toshiba to send high-definition video images over broadcast television, cable television, satellite television services, Blu-Ray, mobile phones and Internet Protocol television.