Growing Momentum For 5G In Remote Production

A combination of factors that includes new 3GPP 5G standards & optimizations that have reduced latencies & jitter, new network slicing capabilities and the availability of new LEO satellite services are bringing increasing momentum to the use of 5G for multi-camera production contribution. European broadcasters including the BBC, Denmark’s TV 2 and RTL in Germany, have been engaged in pioneering production projects.
Mobile networks have been used for remote news gathering since well back in the 4G or even 3G eras, but with increasing deployment under 5G since around 2020. The latencies and jitter achievable under early versions of 5G were still too high generally for production in studio settings, and especially for multi-camera outdoor broadcasts. Multi-camera remote production use cases cannot tolerate latencies as high as 2 seconds, which are adequate for essentially one way ENG (Electronic News Gathering) from single cameras in the field, or even smartphones.
However, successive releases of 5G have introduced features to bring both latency and jitter down, while some broadcasters themselves have worked on optimizations to reduce delays associated with buffering and IP data packet retransmissions. This has led to some commercial studio and outdoor deployments of 5G for production.
Denmark’s state-owned TV2 is a pioneer on this front, having started early in 2020 with a project to test 5G SA (Standalone) in live environments. To qualify as 5G SA, the core wired network has to be upgraded with 5G technology and equipment, as well as the RAN (Radio Access Network). This delivers improved end-to-end performance with lower latencies and higher security.
This TV2 project identified what had to be done to make 5G SA production ready, including stable low latency links, robust field-ready hardware, and a network optimized for uplink-heavy traffic. That last point was significant because traditionally both mobile and fixed networks have been built to carry more downlink than uplink traffic, which was what almost all applications required until recently, including video streaming. But there has been a swing towards the uplink driven mostly by the growth in user generated content, but also applications like remote broadcasting.
TV2 also found that the stringent demands of high-quality production required a dedicated network with its own spectrum and fully integrated base stations, incorporating their own antennas. It therefore eschewed shared spectrum as in public 5G networks, finding that doing so enabled higher bit rates, and most importantly consistent performance. This in turn enabled multiple cameras and faster set up times, helped by having a purpose-built compact all-in-one base station that could be carried to the field.
Another key point was that the underlying software was tuned to reduce the delay that was previously inherent with uplink traffic, bringing down latency and most importantly jitter (variation in latency). It is no good if latency stays below 50 ms 98% of the time, only then to spike above two seconds.
It is worth emphasizing though that the requirement for dedicated spectrum and a private network has been reduced or eliminated by further advances in 3GPP 5G standards. Of particular relevance is support for dynamic network slicing, which effectively came in under 3GPP Release 18, the current version launched mid-2024.
Dynamic network slicing over 5G is a game changer for many industry sectors and broadcast remote production is among them. Slicing involves partitioning a mobile network into multiple individual logical networks, each of which can be allocated its own specific QoS parameters, such as latency and bit rate.
This allows a mobile operator to offer multiple effective private networks carved out of its own infrastructure, each ring fenced from the others. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for individual customers such as a broadcaster can be virtually guaranteed, by restricting general less critical public traffic associated with web browsing or email for example at times of peak demand.
Until recently only static network slicing was possible, which is restricted to longer term allocations of bandwidth and capacity, without the ability to alter them on the fly as needs change, or quickly bring on a new slice. With dynamic 5G network slicing, the ubiquitous availability and scale of public 5G networks can be combined with the guaranteed performance required for high quality remote TV broadcasts.
This then removes the need for large on-site crews and OB vans, and crucially the use of public networks opens the field both to more niche events like lower tier sports, as well as smaller broadcasters or service providers. For these cases, neither OB vans, nor dedicated 5G networks of the kind TV 2 used could be justified or even afforded.
This is mostly still to come and for now deployments of 5G in remote production are confined to major broadcasters. Germany’s largest private TV network RTL deployed a private 5G SA network just over a year ago in time for the 2024 EUFA national European football championships (EUROs) held in the country. A well-known service provider supplied equipment and assisted with the implementation, which allowed use of wireless cameras operating both indoors and outdoors, without any impact on the workflow according to RTL.
This was a private network dedicated to RTL, rather than sliced out of the public network, and has since been used for other productions. It covers 35,000 square metres, encompassing two of RTL Deutschland’s studios as well as public space surrounding its offices, ensuring uninterrupted coverage both indoors and outdoors. It is a complete dedicated 5G network, including a wired core, as well as six antennas, two outdoors and four indoors.
It supports upload speeds of 500 Mbps for live productions, with guaranteed latency below 25 ms, well within the required range. It uses frequencies in the 3.7 to 3.8 GHz range, that is 100 MHz, as is permitted by the German regulator.
It is worth noting that not all countries allow enterprises to have their own spectrum for 5G separate from allocations to public mobile operators. In those cases, a broadcaster would have to work with a mobile operator to deploy a private network using spectrum allocated to the latter.
The RTL deployment was around its own studios, so there was no need for uplinks via a public network to bring the content into the workflow for distribution. In the case of remote production from more distant OB locations, there has to be a connection with a public network, or else some dedicated private link.
In some cases, the location will be beyond the range of public mobile coverage, with no signal, and then the only recourse, as in the past, is satellite connectivity. But it is possible now to avoid the need for dedicated satellite connectivity by extending 5G networks to LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite constellations, using NTN (Non-Terrestrial Network) technology within the latest 5G standards.
Italy’s national pubcaster RAI has been testing 5G NTN service provided by Eutelsat OneWeb over its LEO constellation comprising over 630 satellites. Antennas on the ground can view multiple satellites as they orbit, selecting the one with the best connection at the time, able to switch between them dynamically on the fly.
This comes as the Eutelsat OneWeb service is still evolving, with the first trial of 5G NTN technology having been completed in February 2025. This has prepared the ground for ubiquitous deployment of 5G NTN across the whole constellation, enabling almost blanket worldwide coverage. This makes it easier to set up remote production rapidly in areas uncovered by terrestrial service, without the heavy lifting required in the past.
It makes sense to use 5G for remote production when a combination of terrestrial and satellite links is used. But some broadcasters or TV stations might rely just on satellites for uplinks, without touching any cellular network.
The Space X Starlink LEO constellation is so far leading the field of direct satellite remote broadcasting, pitching at smaller players with the offer of affordable remote production. The service is offered through 3rdparty distribution partners.
This highlights how flexible remote broadcasting can be achieved without terrestrial 5G connectivity. But the two are very likely to play side by side, with some broadcasters opting for terrestrial 5G as their primary remote broadcasting connectivity medium, backed up by satellite where necessary. In other cases, the two will operate side by side in a true hybrid arrangement, while yet others will go for satellite only.
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