Sony, Deutsche Telekom broadcast partnership
September 14, 2023
Sony Corporation and Deutsche Telekom are working together on a programme of activities to leverage Sony’s expertise in camera, encoding, IoT and media orchestration with Deutsche Telekom’s latest developments in advanced 5G networking.
The two organisations are jointly conducting trials to apply Deutsche Telekom’s dynamic network slicing technology to latest generation contribution and production workflows in the professional media space. The goal is to address connectivity challenges that can exist within today’s networked live production ecosystems, especially for events where high quality and consistent video contribution is required between in-field camera operators, outside broadcast service providers, and distributed creative teams.
Deutsche Telekom’s technology position, extensive geographic coverage and advanced status of development in 5G slicing has provided a timely opportunity for the two organisations to work together again. Through dynamic slicing, 5G network resources can be allocated based on the required number of 5G connected devices, a key option where professional camera feeds need to be prioritised. This, combined with Sony’s camera, IoT and orchestration tools opens the way for media companies, such as news organisations, to secure a guaranteed part of the available 5G network for their own purposes at pre-planned events. The application of Sony’s new Ultra Low Latency HEVC codec technology also allows HD or Ultra HD images from the camera to be transferred via the slice in a highly compressed, but high quality and ultra-low latency way.
“Deutsche Telekom has been at the forefront of advanced 5G innovation to bring new B2B services to media and broadcast productions,” commented Changsoon Choi, Vice President, Network Service Differentiation and Convergence, Deutsche Telekom. “After the success of our initial trials, we look forward to extending our collaboration with Sony to harness cutting edge features like 5G network slicing for innovation solutions that will make broadcasting faster and simper than ever before, opening up a new era for media production.”
“Our Networked Live strategy is about enabling resources (places, people, and processing) to be connected, used, and shared optimally and seamlessly in productions – regardless of their location,“ commented Norbert Paquet, Head of Live Production, Sony Europe, “so 5G is a key component of this strategy. In live environments, be they news or events, producers are always balancing the need for speed and the need for reliability. Our initial trials with Deutsche Telekom this summer highlighted just how many opportunities 5G unlocks when powered by a public network with a dedicated access and an efficient codec.“
The first phase of the collaboration is focused on developing the technology that allows the 5G mobile device to connect to the slicing platform.