The broadcast was a collaboration between Vodafone and Bundesliga, to showcase the possibilities of 5G production.
The Bundesliga 2 match between Fortuna Düsseldorf and VfL Osnabrück last night (16 December) was produced for Sky Deutschland using 5G and a cloud-based virtual broadcasting centre.
The match took place at the Merkur Spiel-Arena, which has been upgraded by Vodafone to be one of the first 5G stadiums in Germany.
The cameras were equipped with 5G SIM cards, to enable 5G transmission, and also meaning there was no need for cabling, making it possible for the camera operator to move freely around the stadium.
5G technology ‘network slicing’ guarantees high bandwidths for the transmission of data, and will continue to do so, even when thousands of fans are allowed into the stadium again.
Images were sent directly from the 5G-enabled wireless cameras to the virtual studio in the cloud and then directly to the TV screen or the viewers’ smartphones.
There is no need for an outside broadcast vehicle and the traditional broadcasting centre, with the live images instead being controlled from a cloud-based virtual broadcasting centre. The operator can be based anywhere, including a home office.
Andreas Heyden, executive vice president, digital innovations of the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) Group, which controls the Bundesliga, said: “5G will permanently change the production and distribution as well as the interaction with the content of the Bundesliga.”