TV Bahia and TVU built an integrated workflow for live production and distribution of the Campeonato Brasileiro, reducing setup times and costs while maintaining quality and reliability
The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A is the top level of professional football in Brazil. The 2024 competition began on 13 April and is scheduled to end on 8 December 2024. The top six teams will qualify for the Copa Libertadores, where they will compete with the 2024 Copa do Brasil champions. With 20 teams competing in the league, the schedule throughout is intense.
During one of the event’s high-profile football matches, held in Salvador, Brazil, TV Bahia from the Rede Bahia Group and TVU Networks conducted a Proof of Concept (PoC) project that diverged substantially from the usual live broadcasting processes and workflows.
Broadcast Innovation
As one of Rede Globo’s more prominent affiliates, TV Bahia continues to pursue broadcast innovation. By working with TVU Networks’ entirely cloud-based transmission systems, the broadcaster not only reduced operational costs and simplified workflows but also brought completely new approaches to live event production and distribution in the region.
“With TVU Networks’ equipment, we were able to reduce event setup times and logistical costs, but still maintain the quality and reliability that our audience expects. Given the demanding schedule of the Campeonato Brasileiro, TVU devices and services give us the agility we need to cover a greater number of matches, even those scheduled at the last minute. We are confident that the future of broadcasting lies in the cloud, and we will continue to invest in these systems to further enhance our operations,” said Romildo Fausto, Technology Director at TV Bahia.
Integrated Workflow for Live
TVU Producer played a central role in the workflow, unifying the project’s essential functions within a single control platform. The broadcast was conducted remotely and 100% cloud-based – that is, while a small, efficient team worked on-site, full operational control, from camera management to communication with the reporter and commentator, was coordinated from TV Bahia’s headquarters.
The integration of TVU’s cloud services made setting up a complex physical infrastructure unnecessary and expanded their options for real-time adjustments such as camera switching and audio control. The team could see frame accurate previews in the TVU Producer web interface with zero latency, and work with custom graphics from files, URLs or Singular Live.
TVU Producer also made live inputs from the match reporter possible, including interviews with athletes. The footage, captured directly from the field, was processed through RPS One encoder transmitters and sent to TVU Producer ready for broadcast before and after the matches and during halftime.
The One transmitters are powered by TVU's Inverse Statmux protocol, ISX. By employing time-stamping technology and the ISX protocol, TVU achieves accurate multi-camera sync and sub-second latency. They feature worldwide 5G modems with LTE/3G fallback, and aggregate together up to 12 connections including Starlink, WiFi, Ethernet, BGAN and more. These allow the One to support up to 125Mbps.
A 5G MIMO antenna array maintains simultaneous operation of all built-in 5G modems, plus six 3GPP Release 16 modems supporting 5G SA and NSA modes. It is also compatible with commonly-used 5G, LTE and 3G bands around the world. The One’s dual WiFi modules, also equipped with MIMO antennas, connect continuously with local devices and available networks concurrently.
Match Reporting and Commentary
During the match, the reporter also oversaw the role of the commentator. Since her commentary did not require video, she used the TVU Anywhere app for mobile devices, integrated with TVU Remote Commentator to set up a channel for multiple audio commentators.
The reporter and commentator could connect and interact in real time using cellular bonding and HEVC encoding, while TVU autosync ensured that their audio and video were precisely synced with the main video feed, regardless of their network latency and locations. In effect, TVU Remote Commentator established a shared virtual workspace for direct communication, and avoided relying on a physical set-up.
Seven Video Sources
In total, seven video sources were managed across two RPS One systems, each capable of handling up to four sources. In one of the systems, four video feeds from the field/match were processed directly, while the second RPS One managed three further sources – one from the reporter with her live inputs and two others capturing footage from the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) and the referee. Both RPS One systems were fully integrated with TVU Producer, centralising their operations.
The TV director, located at TV Bahia’s headquarters, worked remotely with the camera operators in the field using TVU Partyline, while the production coordinator, also at TV Bahia, managed audio and replays in real time. TVU Partyline is a Real Time Interactive Layer that can operate with several TVU products. It uses the ISX protocol to maintain video / audio quality and signal resiliency during sessions over the public internet, regardless of the number of participants.
Owing to the direct integration of RPS One with TVU Producer, the entire team was able to collaborate from different locations while maintaining quality and synchronization throughout the broadcast. www.tvunetworks.com
