WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.— SMPTE today announced that SMPTE Standards will now be available to members at no additional cost. The SMPTE Standards library, which are housed on the IEEE Explore website, will now become available on smpte.org, where members can download them at any time. Non-members will also have access to SMPTE Standards through a paid subscription service.
SMPTE self-study courses will also be available to members at no additional cost. Other continuing education materials, like instructor-led courses, will be sold at a discount to members. Non-members will still be able to purchase both self-study and instructor-led courses. Finally, a new version of the SMPTE Motion Imaging Journal will be available to members on the website. This updated version of the journal will improve the member experience by being more comprehensive and accessible to members and will include a search function. The last ten years of issues will be available in January.
According to SMPTE Executive Director David Grindle, SMPTE has a library of 945 standards documents which were previously available to members for a discount. Now for an annual [professional] membership fee of $180, individuals can download any of the 945 standards, including their full history. For non-members, one family of standards can cost upwards of $100 or more.
The new benefits will be financed by a small increase in the annual membership fee, Grindle said, adding that the changes were in response to a society-wide membership survey taken after he joined SMPTE in 2022.
“When we asked our members, ‘what are the things you value most and what are your pain points [regarding SMPTE]?’” Grindle said. “They said ‘we hate paying extra for standards when we're already members.’ And they said ‘we really would like access to education.’”
“SMPTE has both self study and instructor led courses so we have taken the commitment to make our self study courses included in the membership, because those allow people to start getting some of the basic knowledge they need,” he added. “And we also cut the member cost for an instructor-led course in half, making it more affordable and within the reach of the average person working today.”
"These changes are imperative to the future of SMPTE and the industry, as they make our society, and our services, more accessible."
