IBC2021, the annual International Broadcasting Conference, was scheduled to be held in Amsterdam in the Netherlands starting this Friday, December 3, but then, quite quietly, and right before the Thanksgiving weekend in the States, it was cancelled via a notice on the website last Tuesday, Nov. 23, which stated:
“IBC announces that the in person IBC2021 event has been cancelled. The move follows growing concerns about the COVID-19 situation in The Netherlands, which has deteriorated over the past week, and feedback from the IBC exhibitor and visitor
community.
The IBC Partnership Board made the decision today in order to prevent exhibitors and visitors from
travelling to The Netherlands.
Due to take place on December 3-6 at The RAI in Amsterdam, IBC20201 will now focus on bringing
the content and technology community together via IBC Digital.”
Yes, for a second year in a row the massive European-based trade show has had to cancel, this time after moving from its usual dates in September, but at least IBC Digital is free and can be attended without getting on a flight to Europe. What’s odd about the decision is that it was made after the Netherlands went into lockdown after a spike in COVID-19, but it took place days before the CDC announced that there was a new variant of COVID-19 dubbed “Omicron.” Apparently, that variant strain may have already been in the Netherlands before it was discovered in South Africa, so chances are that there will not be travel to or from the Netherlands from other countries.
The next IBC Show is now scheduled to resume in Amsterdam for September 9 – 12, 2022.
