At this year’s Les Ardentes Festival in Liège, Belgium, Proximus NXT and RTBF successfully demonstrated how 5G slicing combined with Haivision Pro mobile video transmitters can enable reliable, secure, and consistent live broadcasting. The demonstration took place in one of the most challenging network environments: a large-scale live event with tens of thousands of attendees.
Les Ardentes is one of Europe’s most prominent popular music festivals, drawing fans from around the world to see top international international hip-hop and rap music acts. For this year’s edition, Proximus NXT, Belgium’s foremost digital service provider known for its advanced fixed and mobile networks and extensive 5G coverage, teamed up with RTBF, the French-speaking public broadcaster renowned for delivering trusted news, sports, cultural programming, and entertainment across multiple platforms. Together, they showcased how 5G slicing and Haivision technology can transform live broadcasting in high-demand environments.
Using a dedicated slice of Proximus’ 5G network, the team transmitted live video from the festival to RTBF’s evening news broadcast. The clean feed was used as part of the live segment, appearing alongside the on-site journalist’s report, providing a prioritized, secure connection with dedicated network resources despite thousands of attendees using mobile devices over the public network.
“This project clearly demonstrated how 5G slicing, combined with low latency video solutions from Haivision, can transform live production. Even in environments where connectivity is unpredictable, we successfully delivered uninterrupted, high-quality coverage,” said Benjamin Dominicy, Transmission Engineer at RTBF.
Reliable live video in high-density environments
Large-scale events like Les Ardentes often push mobile networks to their limits. With so many people connecting at once, bandwidth can quickly be reduced, making it difficult for broadcasters to maintain consistent video quality.
For this technology demonstration, RTBF used a Haivision Pro mobile video transmitter connected to a local production control room. A clean feed, free of graphics or overlays, was encoded and transmitted via a dedicated 5G network slice directly to RTBF for integration into the live news broadcast.
The result: no signal drops, no interruptions, and consistent high-quality, low-latency video contribution, proving the effectiveness of 5G network slicing for live broadcast production.
“The Haivision Pro mobile transmitter is built for exactly these types of scenarios, enabling ultra-low latency, broadcast-quality video contribution in challenging network environments,” said Mark Horchler, Marketing Director, Products and Solutions at Haivision.
Why 5G slicing matters for live broadcasting
5G slicing allows mobile operators to create virtual “fast lanes” within their public networks, allocating dedicated resources to specific applications. For broadcasters, this means:
- Guaranteed bandwidth for live video feeds.
- Lower latency for real-time production workflows.
- Secure transmission, even in crowded and high-traffic environments.
As Proximus NXT noted, the 5G slicing technology has potential applications well beyond live entertainment, including public safety, industrial operations, healthcare, and large-scale sporting events.
Expanding the possibilities
The success at Les Ardentes is just the beginning. With Haivision’s field-proven video transmitters and the advanced capabilities of 5G network slicing, broadcasters can explore new live production workflows that are more agile, resilient, and adaptable, even in the most demanding conditions. This proof of concept also serves as a foundation for further joint testing between Proximus NXT, RTBF, and Haivision, aimed at exploring additional use cases and refining workflows for large-scale live event coverage.
As adoption of 5G slicing grows, opportunities will expand for delivering high-quality, low-latency live video from virtually any location, from major sporting events and concerts to breaking news coverage and critical public safety operations.
By combining robust, purpose-built video contribution technology with the flexibility and reliability of 5G slicing, broadcasters and organizations can be confident in their ability to capture and share the moments that matter most without compromise.
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