Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, is relying on German technology provider Rohde & Schwarz to distribute a broad range of content around the world.
DW has been using the R&S RelayCaster (pictured) IP contribution solution for the secure distribution of content from its main studios in Bonn and Berlin for years. Partners in the United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Seychelles, Mexico and Malaysia benefit from the cost-effective live content distribution over the internet.
The latest connection, established a few months ago, uses R&S RelayCaster to send DW signals from Bonn to a satellite provider in California, USA, where they are injected into the satellite feed and distributed to millions of customers. A fully redundant configuration with two signal streams running in parallel via different internet providers makes the system even more reliable, according to Rohde & Schwarz.
The US project will be presented at IBC 2019 at the Rohde & Schwarz booth B21 in hall 7.
The DW services are linearly distributed via live web streaming, satellites, local rebroadcasters and cable head-ends. Leased lines and satellite links are used to contribute the signals to the head-ends. DW is increasingly relying on transmission over the internet, which means an unmanaged IP network. This approach offers cost advantages, greater flexibility in content regionalisation, and in part better coverage, allowing access to regions lacking any other transmission infrastructure, argues the German provider.
R&S RelayCaster reduces packet losses to a minimum, ensuring uninterrupted transmission and, as a result, consistent quality of service, according to Rohde & Schwarz. Encryption based on the Advanced Encryption Standard provides end-to-end protection of the transmitted data streams, preventing unauthorised access by third parties.
