Telefónica 5G TV broadcast and production solution
February 28, 2019
Nick Snow @ MWC
Spanish telco Telefónica has presented at MWC in Barcelona what it describes as an “innovative” way of broadcasting and producing television with 5G that allows professional news coverage of any event in real time and with high quality video.
The solution, which relies on the 5G capacities of low latency, edge computing, and high bandwidth is based on professional television cameras connected to the 5G network that send high quality video. In addition, the 5G mobile network has production software installed at the edge, very close to where the cameras are, receiving their images almost immediately with very low latency. In this way, the TV producer can remotely manage the different inputs while connected to a fibre optic link and generate a video signal ready to be launched to any TV program, such as the news.
According to Telefónica, producing TV via 5G generates greater efficiencies for broadcasters as they can cover a large number of events without having to send mobile units. It also facilitates immediacy in the coverage of breaking news because the reporter only needs to take a TV camera connected by 5G to any location while the producer can remotely access that signal in real time, produce it, and generate a video signal for a news programme.
Ericsson has provided the network equipment, including 5G radio equipment, as well as the Edge and necessary network core, with the latency and high bandwidth capabilities needed for these types of solutions. The technical production solution has been completely designed by the Madrid company Idronia Multimedia Solutions, and the mobile devices used for the 5G connectivity are latest generation Samsung 5G smartphones; specifically, Samsung Galaxy S10 5G.
“Nowadays, high level media coverage is something reserved only for large events or competitions due to the cost and complexity of the infrastructure that it requires,” noted Juan Cambeiro, Head of the Telefónica España Innovation Project. “This TV5G rebroadcasting and production solution allows to have professional media coverage for even very local contents. In fact, we could talk about a democratisation of professional television coverage because it allows to broadcast very local content using less resources than ever before,” he concluded.