The Telstra DPN is an IP network that enables professional media customers to produce live broadcasts at a distance from the actual event by sending multiple raw camera feeds, audio and equipment control signals over the network back to centralized production hubs. Remote production removes the need for onsite production facilities and provides secure links between sports venues and production hubs on a bespoke network. Remote production over long distances requires a network that has the special characteristics of high bandwidth, low latency, low jitter and low wander, which the Telstra DPN delivered in Australia and now internationally.

For the International World Relay Championships, Telstra worked solely with Nexion to transport 30 HD live camera and graphics feeds from the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama to Tokyo. The signals were then sent to the NEP Andrews Hub in Sydney to facilitate the successful remote production of live coverage and competition highlights in Australia. The signals travelled from Japan via Nexion’s hitless 10 gigabit-per-second circuits on the Telstra DPN to Sydney, using ultra-low-latency compression technology.

“After a successful Telstra DPN trial from the NEP Andrews Hub Sydney to Los Angeles last year, we were looking for an opportunity to use the Telstra DPN and the NEP Andrews Hub to produce an international sports event,” said Andreas Eriksson, Director of Telstra Broadcast Services. “ITN’s broadcast of the World Relay Championships was the perfect two day event to debut the Telstra DPN outside of Australia at cable distances of 16,000 kilometers return trip.”

Bevan Gibson, CTO at ITN, said, “Our goal is to provide innovative broadcast solutions for the Rights Holding Broadcasters worldwide. The solution delivered on this occasion, with our partners Telstra and NEP, for the World Relays in Yokohama was nothing short of world-class. We knew that pushing the boundaries of what could be done would be a challenge, but working together, this solution demonstrated the art-of-the-possible.”

“The successful remote production of the ITN broadcast at the NEP Andrews Hub in Sydney opens a world of future international possibilities,” Telstra’s Eriksson said. “It demonstrates that even across huge distances there is now a viable alternative to production facilities onsite at a venue.”