LTN Live Video Cloud: SRF

Decentralized live production for social

Up in the mountains of Arosa, Switzerland, SRF produced a live broadcast of the world’s speed record in backward skiing. LTN Live Video Cloud was an essential component to ingest and pre-select live signals for final production.

Challenge

As a public broadcaster, SRF has a notable interest in providing informative and entertaining live content. With the rise of live streams on social platforms, SRF, like other broadcasters, is challenged to produce unique and engaging content cost-effectively.

Workflow

In February 2017, SRF3 Radio covered the world record attempt in backward skiing of Elias Ambühl in Arosa, Switzerland. After prior testing of the Swisscom 4G network availability within the area and waiting for optimal weather conditions, everything was set up for a promising run.

The on-site crew, equipped with iPhones, captured live footage from five stationary and mobile positions distributed along the downhill track. In addition, one broadcast camera with a long lens and connected 4G encoder delivered footage with a higher depth of field. All ingested signals were automatically recorded and therewith available for highlight cuts from the first minute.

Within LTN Live Video Cloud live signals were preselected and routed to Telestream Wirecast for final live mixing. LVC’s cloud IO dissolved the natural limitation of hardwired input signal routing, based on on-site hardware and traditional OB-Van setups. The final PGM was transmitted to Zurich, where invariably all of SRF’s signals are handled before final distribution, in this case: Facebook Live

Result

Connecting LTN Live Video Cloud to a live mixing solution like Telestream Wirecast freed SRF from on-site hardware limitations to handle an unlimited amount of inputs.

SRF’s broadcast was a pioneering example of engaging entertainment on Facebook Live and beyond that went viral across media, including CNN Sports, Eurosports, ZDF, RTL, Twitter, YouTube, and print.

LTN enables SRF/TCP to set up scalable and flexible, decentralized production teams for cases where cost-effectiveness is key.

We want to standardize and optimize LTN Live Video Cloud as a product within tpc’s portfolio provided to SRF. Live Video Cloud enables us to run productions even in circumstances where ordinary setups would not be cost-effective in order to deliver content to specific audiences. –Torsten Blank, Head of Online Department at tpc (CH)

About SRF/tpc

SRF, the Swiss broadcasting company, is the largest electronic media house of German-speaking Switzerland, with about 2,150 employees in three main studios in Basel, Bern, and Zurich. As the technical service provider, tpc plans and supports productions with innovative technologies and consulting competence to leverage successful projects.