MUMBAI: Delhi's premier terrestrial and satellite broadcasting exposition and conference BES EXPO 2001 was flagged off at the Hotel Taj Palace today (1 February). Organised by the Broadcast Engineering Society (India), the event will run for three days and will feature companies from all over world displaying their latest products and services. It is aimed at providing broadcast professionals a platform to interact with each other, apart from giving them an opportunity to get well-versed with the latest advancements taking place in both terrestrial and satellite broadcasting.

In its seventh edition, the event is said to be growing at a rate of 20 per cent per year. Nearly one-third of the participating international delegates are from countries like France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, Netherlands, UK and US.

The central theme of the conference is Digital Broadcasting - Towards a Convergent World. The conference was scheduled to start with a tutorial on digital compression. The following day's event would focus on, digital audio and video broadcasting, and automation in broadcasting. The last three sessions on Day Three are expected to focus on issues of privatisation of broadcasting and regulatory issues, convergence and impact on broadcasting and direct to home television broadcasting.