France Télévisions has successfully launched France 2 UHD featuring Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos technologies for the broadcast of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics 2026, marking a significant milestone in immersive sports broadcasting.

This deployment represents a comprehensive implementation of next generation audio and video technologies designed to deliver exceptional viewing experience to audiences.

For the video stream, France Télévisions is utilising Dolby Vision with SMPTE 2094-10 dynamic metadata, built upon a base layer of PQ HDR10. This approach ensures optimal picture quality with enhanced brightness, contrast, and colour accuracy, while maintaining backward compatibility with HDR10-capable devices. The SMPTE 2094-10 metadata enables scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame optimisation, ensuring that viewers experience the full creative intent across diverse Olympic content, from indoor ice skating events to outdoor alpine competitions.

On the audio front, France Télévisions is distributing Dolby Atmos using the AC-4 codec, taking full advantage of AC-4’s advanced capabilities to deliver multiple immersive audio experiences. The broadcaster has implemented three distinct Atmos presentations using AC-4’s presentation framework.

The first presentation offers the standard French broadcast experience. The second presentation incorporates Dialog Enhancement with a 6dB voice boost, providing improved speech intelligibility for viewers who prefer clearer commentary. The third presentation features an innovative dynamic stadium mode that intelligently switches between audio configurations: commentators are present during journalist reports and pre-event coverage, while during live sports competitions, the commentators are removed to provide an authentic stadium atmosphere with natural crowd ambience and environmental sounds.

This dynamic stadium mode and the seamless switching between AC-4 presentations is orchestrated using Serial ADM (S-ADM) transported via SMPTE ST 2110-41, enabling real time metadata-driven audio routing and presentation selection.

First for France Télévisions

Speaking to SVG Europe in Milan, Yannick Olivier, leader technique 2110, service ISP exchanges at France Télévisions, comments on why France Télévisions has decided to do this, Olivier says: “Our goal is to provide the best quality for our viewers. Because we are producing with Atmos, and also because we are doing personalisation, our viewers are able to have a better experience, better quality of audio, but also we provide three presentations with audio.

“The first one is a normal one, the second one is for accessibility because the dialogue is boosted, so if you have hearing problems you are able to have a better understanding on what our commentator or anchor is saying. And the third one is giving an experience for our viewers to be inside the stadium, because it’s stadium mode without dialogue during sports. So sometimes we [don’t wish to hear] commentators because they are always talking; we want only to have the ambience. Now we are able to have it.”

As to how it is going so far, Olivier says that while the system is working, it has required the broadcaster to develop new workflows and it is still a learning curve. The first real trial of the technology that France Télévisions ran was at Roland-Garros 2024, prior to the Summer Olympics that year; one trial of many at Roland-Garros that the broadcaster has run for different technologies over the years. However, says Olivier, “it was only a lab; now it’s real life, a first for France Télévisions”.

He explains how it is going live at the Winter Games: “It’s working. We had a little problem at the beginning because we are managing a lot of channels, a lot of audio channels. It’s still a new process and we are only doing it first for this Olympics and sometimes [as a trial at] Roland-Garros, so it’s not a common process right now.”

On the new workflow for this production regarding the Dolby contributions, he says: “We still have to fix things [as we see them]. Having more presentation for this Olympics is really new, so we had to update all the workflows, all the setup in Paris, and to test everything. We also had some troubles with TVs because sometimes TVs are able to show the presentation name, the label, sometimes not, so we have to talk to manufacturers to update the TVs, but that’s a long process.”

Sophisticated workflow

Olivier runs through the audio workflow: “Regarding the workflow, we get 5.1.4 from OBS and our TV set. We get dialogue (mono) from TV set and commentary position. All audio is sent to our PCR (UM3) in Paris, with a Lawo console working in Dolby Atmos.

“At the output of this PCR, we send the Atmos Bed (5.1.4 – 10 channels) plus one channel of dialogue to France 2 UHD Playout.

“On the metadata workflow, we generate sADM (inside SMPTE 2110-41) in a Junger AIXPressor at UM3. This signal is sent to France 2 UHD playout. At the playout system, we have a Junger AIXpressor getting signals (2110-41) from UM3.

On the workflow Olivier notes there is succession of:

• TV set: 3 Atmos presentations (Normal: M&E+D(0dB), Boosted: M&E+D(6dB), Stadium: M&E+D(0dB)) – sADM pass-through from UM3
• Ads or upscale from HD legacy channel: Three Stereo presentations (CM VF, CM AD, CM VO) – sADM generated by playout’s AIXpressor
• Olympic sport with commentary: 3 Atmos presentations: Normal: M&E+D(0dB), Boosted: M&E+D(6dB), Stadium: M&E+D(silence)) – sADM Pass-through from UM3

He adds: “Audio and metadata is finally sent to Ateme Titan Live for Dolby AC-4 Encoding

On this Titan Live we generate also the HDR metadata for Dolby Vision and HDR10+; we also have HDR10 (static metadata).”

This sophisticated workflow demonstrates France Télévisions’ commitment to innovation and provides viewers with unprecedented control and flexibility in how they experience Olympic coverage, setting a new standard for immersive sports broadcasting in Europe.