During the last two weeks, RAI, TIM and LiveU performed the first remote television production tests over the 5G network. The first part of the test was a functional test in TIM labs in order to verify functionalities of the receiving server whit a set of video streaming coming from Israel. The second part of the test was performed with a LiveU backpack, using tethering on a Samsung S10 5G smartphone, provided by Samsung, to transmit over the TIM 5G commercial network deployed using Ericsson equipment’s in order to verify the whole transmission chain.

This is an important step to target the multi-site musical concert called “Itinerant Orchestra” trial planned in autumn, in Turin, in which the event is a concert performed by an orchestra with some musicians located in the main concert hall and some other itinerant musicians walking in the streets while approaching the concert hall. Each itinerant musician is followed by a cameraman shooting their performance and providing cues to stay synchronized with the main orchestra performance. The high-quality AV signal is streamed via the 5G network to the main editing facility where it is properly processed and mixed with both the orchestra located in the concert hall and the rest of the itinerant musicians. The spectators in the concert hall will see the itinerant musicians on LED walls and listen to their performance via an amplification system, mixed with the local orchestra, until they enter the concert hall and join the orchestra.

Introducing remote production over 5G networks for television content can revolutionize the typical workflow of broadcaster and media companies. This trial is extremely challenging and requires very low and stable delays, an ultra-reliable capability and a very large bandwidth capacity in order to reach a good final result.