At the DVB-WORLD 2026 Unconferences, 3Cat took part in an open industry discussion on whether Europe should explore a new digital video ecosystem with some similarities to YouTube, while clearly not seeking to compete with YouTube itself. The session focused on discerning broadcasters’ real interest in such an initiative and identifying what DVB standards could contribute to a future European solution.
Representing 3Cat, Rafa Bermúdez, Jordi Mata and Francesc Mas joined the discussion and shared 3Cat’s perspective through its participation in MOSAIC, the European collaborative project that is already working on several closely related ideas.
The unconference debate started from a widely shared concern: Europe’s audiovisual sector depends heavily on global digital platforms for discovery, reach and audience engagement. At the same time, participants stressed that any European initiative should not be framed as a direct “YouTube competitor.” Instead, the discussion pointed toward a more pragmatic goal: understanding whether broadcasters, content owners and public service media would value a more open, interoperable and European-aligned digital video environment, and what standards, metadata models and technical building blocks would be needed to support it.
In that context, 3Cat explained how MOSAIC already addresses part of this landscape. As presented during the session, MOSAIC is focused on a decentralized, multi-node platform model in which broadcasters and content partners can maintain their own nodes and content while enabling shared discovery and access mechanisms across the network. The project is also exploring AI-based tools, including transcription, translation and metadata enrichment, with the goal of reducing language barriers and making content more accessible and easier to discover across Europe.
This made MOSAIC especially relevant to the “EUTube” conversation. The similarities are clear: both ideas are interested in helping European content travel better across borders, in improving discovery, and in reducing structural dependence on large non-European gatekeepers. Both also point toward the importance of shared metadata, common interfaces and interoperable technical foundations.
At the same time, 3Cat noted that there are also important differences. The unconference discussion around a possible “EUTube” touched on a broader, more consumer-facing concept, potentially including stronger discovery, recommendation and platform-layer functions similar to those users associate with global video platforms. MOSAIC, by contrast, is currently more focused on the infrastructure, collaboration and content-sharing layer, especially among broadcasters and professional content ecosystems. In its current phase, MOSAIC is not primarily aimed at becoming a mass-market public platform for external user uploads, nor at replicating the full platform logic of YouTube.
However, one of the most important conclusions from 3Cat’s intervention was that future phases of MOSAIC could evolve in response to the needs expressed in the unconference. If European broadcasters identify concrete value in extending the project toward stronger discovery, broader content exposure, richer metadata models or more user-facing capabilities, MOSAIC could become a natural framework in which to explore that evolution.
For that reason, 3Cat used the session to invite broadcasters and industry stakeholders to take an active interest in MOSAIC and to consider participating in future phases of the project. The message was clear: Europe does not need to start from zero. There are already concrete initiatives, practical technical work and collaborative frameworks underway. What is needed now is broader engagement from broadcasters, content providers and ecosystem partners to determine which needs are real, which use cases are most valuable, and how European cooperation can turn today’s ideas into tomorrow’s operational services.
The discussion at DVB-WORLD 2026 showed that there is growing interest in rethinking how European audiovisual content is distributed, discovered and surfaced online. Through MOSAIC, 3Cat is helping ensure that this conversation is not only visionary, but also grounded in real technical progress and practical collaboration.