IBC 2021 will not move forward as a live event as planned, the latest convention to be scuttled because of a COVID-19 pandemic about to approach completion of its second calendar year.
Organizers say they'll rework the show into a digital format, but no details for that virtual event were announced.
Event planners surprised the global TMT community last week when they declared that IBC 2021 was a go for its usual Amsterdam location from Dec. 3-6. This was despite the fact that the Netherlands government had just declared a three-week partial lockdown of the country the previous weekend.
However, cancellations among constituents began almost immediately, starting with European tech conglomerate Viaccess-Orca.
The move followed the National Association of Broadcasters similarly scuttling a live event in Las Vegas in October, with the delta-strain-fueled COVID outbreak still surging in the U.S. in the fall.
Now all eyes will turn to CES, the biggest global tech-media event of them all, which is still slated to go live in Las Vegas in early January, as COVID-19 cases once again begin to surge in the U.S. NATPE also plans an in-person convention in Miami, Florida, in January. ■
