Tessa Potter’s 2026 lookahead at media & entertainment tech

As we turn the corner and land firmly in 2026, it’s both daunting and exciting to think about the future of tech in media and entertainment technology. I’ll continue to learn something new and work with some piece of gear I’ve never seen before this year, I can be guaranteed of that, while still supporting things that are aging, timing out, and often thought of as irrelevant, but that the businesses I’m working for still utilize on a daily basis.

This lookahead is not meant to be a pulse that somehow I’ve tapped into across the industry. It’s just a look from the ground floor, looking out, sampling some of the conversations those of us talking about this coming year are having.

We can’t start 2026 without talking about AI. It’s happening. It’s talking to us in our browsers, on our phones, showing up as both helpful tools and annoying intrusions. We can’t help but feel bombarded, especially as this past Christmas saw many of our colleagues and friends upload pictures of themselves superimposed with Santa hats in festive scenes, exploring the new free image tool on ChatGPT that won’t be free forever to alter images. I’m sure video is next.

One thing that is happening around my house, filled with teenagers and 21-year-olds who are the next generation being marketed to, is the joke of showing each other bad AI. It’s really amazing what it’s created, but they’re already tuned into AI used too much and too often, which gives a sense of creepiness to the content showing up in their feeds on social media and in advertising. These kids are tech savvy. While my dad, born in the baby boomer era, may not be able to tell if a video is fake, they have a keen eye for things that look a little too shiny, too implausible, and sound too robotic.

I don’t have much experience with actual robots, except for the time I was in Beijing during the Winter Olympics, locked up with a bunch of robots that brought food to your table, or the one in the hotel that sprayed sanitizer with a big smile on its face as it followed you onto the elevator. Here is what I do know about robots. If we put a smile on them, give them a static even cartoon face, and they do a job, after seeing them for a month people’s reactions turn negative, much like the apocalyptic war movies where robots and people don’t get along. We like the idea of robots doing things for us, but then something happens after seeing their smug never changing smile and they kind of make you angry.

So if I were a media and entertainment company utilizing an AI tool to actually create content this year, I’d go slow and be careful not to sully my brand with too much of a feel of something that isn’t made by and for humans. While lots of these tools will get better and start cutting commercials into programming at the right time, or adjusting audio to give a seamless experience, too much still feels clunky and insincere, too shiny, bordering on obnoxious. For the young people in my house, if you’re trying to sell to them, that turns them right off a brand and actually makes it a bit of a laughingstock, much like that robot spraying sanitizer around our hotel.

This is also why, if your staff are content creators, 2026 is the year you need to start learning about CP2A and content credentialing. If you’re making video, audio, photography, or written content, you need to think about how you’ll be able to tell people that what they’re seeing was created by you and not generated by AI. Content credentialing isn’t about stopping AI, that ship has sailed. It’s about establishing trust. It’s about being able to say this was shot by our team, edited by our staff, recorded in our studio, or created by a human who works here with humans having editorial oversight. As audiences become more skeptical of what they see online, having a way to prove authenticity may become as important as a watermark or a logo ever was. If you wait until advertisers, platforms, or regulators start asking for it, you’ll already be behind.

Last year was the year of tariffs and trade wars. This year seems to be one of further economic unrest, which can make everyone tighten up at the beginning of the year, especially in the first quarter. But as the year goes on, projects still need to happen, initiatives have to roll out, and technology needs replacing and maintaining. If you waited through last year avoiding spending money, I don’t think personally that a failing camera system, a broken audio console, or a repeatedly shutting down server is going to wait much longer. The prices aren’t going to get cheaper either.

When I first started my career, I remember buying broadcast equipment, switchers, camera systems, and audio consoles, and the accounting department would show us how these capital purchases was were written off over 15 years. I feel like it’s time to bring those timelines back. Ten years can go by in a blink of an eye with technology. If you don’t have a plan for your computer systems, switches, consoles, screens broadcast cores and when you’ll start budgeting to replace them, you’ll end up in a situation where everything feels like it’s failing at once.

We can look to IT for understanding here. A lot of the gear they maintain and service has a shorter lifespan than things like an ENG broadcast camera used in sports or an audio console in a radio station. If we are using more off the shelf gear, parts from Amazon, virtual machines, and computer hardware, what used to be 20 years between installs has turned into 10. Ten years of 24/7 operation, always on, working hard to produce video or audio, is really all you can ask of a computerized system.

If you’re in radio or television and you’re in transmission and you’ve been avoiding a large purchase like a new FM transmitter, you already know the prices aren’t going down and delivery timelines aren’t getting shorter. If you wait until you’re in a critical situation in 2026, you’re going to be waiting in line.

2026 is also another big year for reshuffling who owns what, who is broadcasting where, and who bought whom. What content you can get on which platform continues to change. Who Warner Bros. is owned by now, what sports are being broadcast where and how you’re going to watch them all. You have just a couple of weeks to figure out how you’re going to watch all the Olympic coverage you want, download the apps, make sure you have a smart TV, and get everything ready for that viewing party when minus 20 sweeps across the prairies and you can’t bring yourself to go outside again.

When you spend a lifetime working with old guys, they often tell you things come back around. When you’re a kid you don’t believe it, but a trend this year that I never thought I’d see return, based on everyone saying linear TV was dead, is scheduled television episode releases. Now branded as event television or appointment viewing, studios are holding back instead of releasing entire series at once, giving viewers time to watch, building branding and marketing around it, and allowing for water cooler conversations. No surprise there, humans talking to other humans still drives eyeballs and ears to content.

It turns out when people talk about stuff they like to each other, it helps get the word out, especially at a time when marketing feels like a fragmented mess of platforms, social media, and traditional advertising. So get ready for the year of event TV, watching with friends on the same day, tapping into ideas from days gone by that actually worked and made a lot of money. Netflix’s Stranger Things succeeded, in part, because it tapped into multi-generational viewing. While algorithms and AI tell you to make content for one group, it turns out that if you make it accessible to multiple generations, you get more eyeballs.

2026 is also the year where borders have fewer boundaries for content. Easy VPNs, new players entering the streaming marketplace, TV apps, and global access to content make watching material from around the world more possible than ever. That’s why, if you’re a creator in Canada, just keep making. If you’re a government official or supporter of this industry and want to see us continue on the center stage, make sure it’s possible for creators here to keep their voices, tell unique stories, and keep shooting our landscapes. Canada has always been an outward looking place, and in 2026 we’re reminded how lucky we are to live here.

As a technician who is still called upon to fix, repair, think through ideas, and explain what is and isn’t possible to people making decisions about replacing or installing new technology, I’m a little biased when I say that 2026 is the time not just to think about succession plans, but to start acting on them.

There are kids on the ground floor with education, computer knowledge, and a willingness to get a job and get out of their parents’ basements who would take any opportunity to break into our industry. If you do one thing this year, try and create a part-time junior technical position and have them follow your senior people. You actually don’t have time left. In two and a half years, the time it takes to train someone to be on their own for a week while someone is on vacation, or to throw them into an environment where they can solve a real problem, will be gone.

If you don’t start now, there is no hope of finding a replacement. There are not more technical people entering media and entertainment technology, and we are about to see the largest mass exodus ever. Count how many people on your crew are over 50 and ask yourself how long they are really sticking around. Do you truly have another 10 years, and do you think you can remain competitive with one person who already has a foot out the door thinking about retirement, while AI, new platforms, and new technology accelerate?

I’m sorry if you’ve waited for me to say this in Broadcast Dialogue, but you’re nearly too late. This is a not a warning anymore it is a fact.

I get asked every week if I know anyone with skills. Over the last year, I met a handful of up-and-coming kids who all needed a break in position. They would take a full-time junior role at $20-$30 an hour just to learn, and they’re happy, friendly, and eager. They might think they know it all, and that’s okay. I did too at the start of my career, and I had to fall on my face a hundred times to learn that I didn’t. They need this opportunity, and we need them. They’re smarter, quicker, and faster than I ever was.

Keep your senior technicians focused on strategy and understanding your business. Tell them they might get a vacation where they don’t have to check email, or a weekend off once in a while, and you’ll see how motivated they are to train someone new, especially if they’re part of the hiring process. Those of us on the ground floor in tech can sniff out someone who wants to turn a screwdriver, who has some gumption, maybe learned on a farm or in a workshop, and who wants to solve problems rather than create them.

If you’re a new business in media and entertainment technology and feel frustrated because you need an experienced voice to understand your business, talk to a vendor, supplier, or advocate who can work with you part-time. There are experienced mid-to-late career professionals looking for flexibility, autonomy, or a gradual step back. Some, like myself, want variety and to keep fingers in a few different pots to keep learning. 

Advertise part-time broadcast engineering jobs or part-time, term or contract operational rolls to start connecting with people in this country working in the media and entertainment industry with years of experience, and you’ll see some of the most experienced people come out of the woodwork to help on projects or contract work. Some consistency helps. Everyone still needs income to live. Negotiate. You may find having an expert on your team saves you money in the long run.

I’m packing my bags this week, headed for the mountains of Italy to work at the Olympics, alongside many other Canadians. I hope to share stories of what I’m seeing, hearing, and who I’m meeting on the ground as we make media and entertainment magic happen.

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All my best to everyone in 2026. The hard work and knowledge you built last year will apply, and I can’t wait to see and hear what you create next.