WDR Relies On Riedel Backbone For Remote Production Of UEFA Euro 2024

The German regional public broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) has implemented a Riedel backbone for communications and signal distribution for the ARD broadcast of the UEFA European Football Championship 2024.

In collaboration with Broadcast Solutions and Riedel's Managed Technology Division, the media and intercom infrastructure at WDR’s Broadcast Center Cologne (BCC) was temporarily expanded to enable flexible and efficient remote production for linear TV, radio, online, and social media.

WDR opted for a centralized remote production from its Cologne location, which helped reduce travel and personnel costs. For this purpose, all UEFA feeds were centrally organized via the German public broadcaster control room in Mainz, decoded, and sent directly to Cologne over fiber. In addition, signals from up to six unilateral cameras with embedded audio were transmitted from each stadium to Cologne. There, all signals converged in a dispatcher room used by production, editorial, and technical staff, and were distributed throughout the Cologne campus.

Due to the high number of additional signals to be processed in the BCC, the WDR infrastructure was temporarily expanded by 17 MediorNet MicroN UHD nodes. Ten of these nodes were equipped with the Standard App to sync the unsynchronized UEFA feeds to the house clock and enable flexible distribution of video and audio signals. The remaining seven nodes used the MultiViewer App for scalable multiviewing capacities. The orchestration layer, hi human interface from Broadcast Solutions, was chosen to control and configure the infrastructure.

In addition to the existing intercom system, WDR rented an extra Riedel Artist Node with MADI cards to connect the commentator stations in the stadiums, as well as additional intercom panels to accommodate the increased number of workstations.

The integration of Euro 2024 into WDR's ongoing operations required careful planning to ensure that its regular processes remained undisturbed. For example, the Euro 2024 control room was decoupled from the main WDR control room to ensure dedicated processing of the European Championship content. Close cooperation from system planning to technical implementation ensured that the system met WDR's requirements and functioned flawlessly. 

You might also like...

HDR & WCG For Broadcast: Part 2 - The Production Challenges Of HDR & WCG

Welcome to Part 2 of ‘HDR & WCG For Broadcast’ - a major 10 article exploration of the science and practical applications of all aspects of High Dynamic Range and Wide Color Gamut for broadcast production. Part 2 discusses expanding display capabilities and…

Great Things Happen When We Learn To Work Together

Why doesn’t everything “just work together”? And how much better would it be if it did? This is an in-depth look at the issues around why production and broadcast systems typically don’t work together and how we can change …

Microphones: Part 1 - Basic Principles

This 11 part series by John Watkinson looks at the scientific theory of microphone design and use, to create a technical reference resource for professional broadcast audio engineers. It begins with the basic principles of what a microphone is and does.

Standards: Part 19 - ST 2110-30/31 & AES Standards For Audio

Our series continues with the ST 2110-3x standards which deploy AES3 and AES67 digital audio in an IP networked studio. Many other AES standards are important as the foundations on which AES3 and AES67 are constructed.

Future Technologies: Artificial Intelligence & The Perils Of Confirmation Bias

We continue our series considering technologies of the near future and how they might transform how we think about broadcast, with a discussion of the critical topic of training AI models and how this is potentially compromised from the outset…