Joe Celko's Data, Measurements and Standards in SQL

Chapter 30. Audiovisual Media

The International Standard Audiovisual Number (ISAN) is a standards identifier for audiovisual works, similar to the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) for books or the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) for periodicals. The ISAN standard is covered by ISO standard 15706:2002 and ISO 15706-2.

I have a personal interest in this standard because I once consulted for the Belgian National Radio and Television Network (BRTN), which is the national broadcasting agency for Flemish speakers in Belgium. There was no standard for identifying a television or radio show. Sometimes the same show would be renamed and remarketed by another company; each distributor had their own encoding scheme. In short, this was ...