RTBF innovates on the Belgian market with live broadcast using Proximus NXT's 5G technology

Last December, for the eleventh Viva For Life week, RTBF organized a major solidarity and fundraising campaign to fight child poverty in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. From 17 to 23 December, RTBF presenters and teams were deployed in Bertrix, providing round-the-clock coverage on television, radio and social networks as well as online. But that is not all. The 2023 edition also gave RTBF's technical teams the chance to team up with Proximus NXT and test new live coverage technology using a temporary 5G private network.

RTBF and Proximus NXT, supported by its ecosystem of top partners, conducted a "proof of concept" throughout the week of the Viva For Life broadcasts. During this full-scale test, a temporary private 5G network was set up in Bertrix enabling RTBF to connect two remote-controlled cameras and receive video feeds from these cameras in their control room on the event site. These two panoramic cameras were connected to a 5G network dedicated to RTBF, while the audience on site got to watch the live feed on a screen connected to a 5G router.

A full-scale test

The 5G setup for the 2023 Viva For Life edition did not replace RTBF's wired installations, but allowed for testing the use, performance and stability of such an infrastructure during a six-day live event. During these tests, RTBF validated several use cases, hardware and protocols using 5G technology, including remote control, video streaming, mobile (wireless) cameras, remote-controlled cameras, live feed screens, image quality, and latency. After initial tests at A6K in Charleroi, this project was meant to test a private 5G network under real-life conditions and gain more confidence and experience in using this setup for covering major live events.

The success of this full-scale test is excellent news, considering Viva For Life is a mass event with live HD broadcast of audio and video content on various RTBF platforms, requiring perfect image and sound quality and latency-free fluidity. A 5G private network as the one in Bertrix is able to deliver this level of quality, as it is a mobile network dedicated to meet the needs of a particular organization. It offers higher bandwidth guarantees, lower latency and better security than public networks, resulting in guaranteed high performance, greater reliability and enhanced efficiency.

Interesting prospects for the years to come

The success of the Viva For Life test opens up exciting prospects for the future. While RTBF currently relies on wired systems, it has a keen interest in making more use of the mobile network, reducing cable dependence and enhancing camera mobility. Private 5G networks are an ideal solution for media coverage of e.g. sports or cultural events, ensuring network accessibility, performance and stability.

The technical experts of Proximus NXT are eager to continue their collaboration with their colleagues at RTBF in the future to provide viewers and listeners on various RTBF platforms with high-resolution video and audio streams and perfect image quality.