The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) member Rai has opened its doors to the first European multi-site 5G Broadcast showcase delivering the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) live to 5G Broadcast enabled personal phones.
Rai in Turin joins ORS/ORF in Vienna, France Télévisions in Paris, and SWR/ARD in Stuttgart, who are also running 5G Broadcasts with live ESC content. The trials showcase how live content could be efficiently distributed to mass audiences over 5G.
EBU Members are being assisted by the technology providers Rohde & Schwarz, Qualcomm Technologies Inc. and Ateme. Running throughout the week of events, the 5G Broadcast test transmissions consist of live content produced by Rai in Turin, encoded by Ateme at EBU HQ in Geneva and distributed to SWR in Stuttgart, France Télévisions in Paris and ORS in Vienna. At each city, transmitters from Rohde & Schwarz will bring the signal over-the-air to test smartphones supplied by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Commenting on the trials, Antonio Arcidiacono, EBU director of technology & innovation said: “5G Broadcast offers big opportunities to the whole media value chain and there’s no better way to showcase this technology than at the EBU’s flagship event – the Eurovision Song Contest. With its flexibility, free-to-air reception, compatibility with existing broadcast networks and seamless integration with 5G devices, it represents an important step in building truly hybrid networks for the benefit and safety of global media consumers”.
The EBU notes that the 5G Broadcast solution is built on the 3GPP Rel-16 feature-set, operating in a Receive-Only Mode (ROM), Free-To-Air (FTA) and without the need for a SIM card (SIM-free reception). The 5G Broadcast dedicated mode will be demonstrated with a standalone broadcast infrastructure operating within the UHF band.
