RTCG Montenegro engages Riedel for comms and signal transport

Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG) has adopted Riedel’s networking and communications technologies for its studio upgrade. As broadcast rights holder and host broadcaster in Montenegro for a broad range of national and international sporting events, RTCG has installed a comprehensive signal routing and crew communications backbone based on the MediorNet real-time network, Artist digital matrix intercom, and Bolero wireless intercom.

Dejan Vujović (L), deputy general manager for technology at RTCG and Ismet Bozkurt, senior sales executive Eastern Europe, Riedel

RTCG is the public service broadcaster of Montenegro, with its headquarters in the capital city of Podgorica. Work on the project started in 2019 and entails a complete infrastructure upgrade.

The expansive studio upgrade has positioned RTCG to offer premier coverage of popular and high-profile sports events, including European handball, qualifying events for the 2021 Summer Games, European championship water polo, the division 1 league of Montenegro football, European women’s football qualifiers, and qualifiers for the European basketball championship.

The new Riedel-based infrastructure at RTCG serves two master control rooms, one each for radio and television, along with five production control rooms, an audio post production suite, 12 editing rooms, and four commentator desks. In addition to the handball, water polo, and football broadcasts, the Riedel network will provide signal transport and communications for RTCG’s UHD coverage of the summer games from Tokyo, Japan.

“We had key requirements for our signal transport and communications upgrade – namely, decentralisation, a high degree of flexibility, and the ability to transport and route signals over fibre. As a proven solution that’s well-established in the market, Riedel MediorNet was the perfect choice,” said Dejan Vujović, deputy general manager for technology at RTCG.

“Thanks to our close collaboration with the Riedel Austria team and the systems integrators from BFE, installation of the MediorNet and Artist equipment was so easy that it was almost plug-and-play. Not only will MediorNet give us newfound agility in production of live sports broadcasts, but it will help us make a smooth transition to IP operations moving forward.”

Carrying both television and radio signals, the MediorNet infrastructure includes four MetroN core routers and 33 MicroN high-density media distribution network devices, 14 of which are configured using the MicroN MultiViewer app. An Artist-128 digital matrix intercom mainframe supports seven Bolero wireless beltpacks, with only four Bolero antennas supplying intercom signals to the entire facility.

In addition, 50 RSP-2318 SmartPanels are distributed throughout the operation to enable agile routing and control of audio and video signals transported across the MediorNet network.