RTL Deutschland Selects Telekom to Enable Private 5G

Deutsche Telekom has installed a private 5G campus network for RTL Deutschland, which will be put into operation just in time for the European Football Championship. With the “Campus Network Private” business customer solution, the media company is the first in Germany to supply its production studios with 5G via its own 5G standalone (5G SA) network.

This makes TV production even more flexible: for example, the solution enables the use of wireless cameras both inside and outside the studios. Until now, live productions have mainly been realized with wired cameras that are moved around the studio for dynamic image control. In the future, wirelessly connected cameras will offer even greater flexibility for TV broadcasting.

The in-house campus network provides a tailored infrastructure for optimized performance and dynamic environments. The short ways of the independent 5G architecture support data-intensive applications with ultra-short response times in the millisecond range. This enables particularly fast data processing. In addition to wireless cameras, the network will also enable the operation of wireless microphones, a wireless intercom and dedicated access to the internet in the future. Other production-relevant systems are also to be tested via 5G.

“RTL Deutschland produces its must-see content in outstanding quality. In partnership with Deutsche Telekom, we are now operating an independent 5G mobile network at our broadcasting center in Cologne to bring our high-reach content to our viewers and users even more conveniently and efficiently. This is a further step in our innovation partnership,” says Matthias Dang, Chief Commercial, Technology & Data Officer at RTL Deutschland.

Klaus Werner, Managing Director for Business Customers at Telekom Deutschland, adds: “With RTL, we have an innovative partner with whom we can jointly develop our products and solutions and bring them to market maturity. Thanks to its network architecture with 5G standalone technology, the 5G Campus network meets the particularly high requirements of live TV production and offers important features such as minimal response times and high bandwidths.”

Maximum 5G performance also for the 2024 European Championship
The broadcasts surrounding this year's European Football Championship will also benefit from the advantages of the campus network on the production site. The innovation network will be extended to a neighboring event site during the tournament. Here, coverage of the public viewing will take place live via RTL's private 5G campus network. This will ensure a flawless live broadcast, even if the mobile cells of the public network are busy. Deutsche Telekom and RTL have already successfully tested live broadcast via the public Telekom 5G SA network with network slicing for reporting on the move.

Campus Network Private for individual requirements

The 5G campus network will not only be installed in two RTL studios, but also in the so-called mall. In addition, RTL's visitor parking lot in Cologne-Deutz will be supplied with 5G. Together with the area for public viewing during the European Championships, the campus network thus covers an area of more than 35,000 square meters. This enables RTL to provide uninterrupted coverage both indoors and outdoors.

The 5G SA network operates separately from the public mobile network. The entire infrastructure, from the antennas and active system technology to the core network, comes from Ericsson and is installed locally on the site in Cologne-Deutz. This means that all data traffic remains in the local campus network. A total of six antennas were installed for the campus network at RTL Deutschland: two outdoors, one of which is used temporarily, and four more indoors.

High upload bandwidths of around 500 megabits per second (Mbit/s) are realized for the live productions. The delay rate must not exceed 25 milliseconds. The 5G SA network operates on frequencies reserved specifically for RTL Deutschland in the 3.7 to 3.8 gigahertz range. Up to 100 megahertz bandwidth is thus exclusively available to the broadcaster.

Full control & flexibility

RTL Deutschland can flexibly adapt the private network and manage various functions on-demand. For example, data traffic within the campus network is prioritized for specific applications as required.

The closed system is characterized by its high level of data security and reliability: Thanks to a redundant architecture of the local core network, the network continues to function reliably even in the event of an interruption to the cloud-based management portal. In addition, the TV broadcaster benefits from guaranteed and continuous availability.