30 years. 30 hours. On November 20th, 2025, with a highly emotional finale and a spectacular donation total, the 30th RTL Spendenmarathon came to an end. The anniversary edition of Germany’s longest-running charity show raised a total of €23,077,166 for selected children’s aid projects run by the „Stiftung RTL – Wir helfen Kindern e. V.“ (RTL Foundation – We Help Children). This brings the total amount raised for children in need since the first RTL charity marathon in 1996 to €329 million.
When we began planning the 30th anniversary edition of the RTL Spendenmarathon, we knew this 30-hour charity production would once again push our team to its limits, creatively, technically, and operationally. What we didn’t know was that it would also become the stage for a genuine industry first: the worldwide debut of Grass Valley’s LDX 110 integrated 5G camera system in collaboration with Vislink, used in a full live broadcast environment.
And it worked. Really well.
A 5G Breakthrough in Real Live Production
For years, broadcasters have discussed the potential of 5G. The promise was always there: true mobility, bandwidth that rivals traditional RF, ultra-low latency, and infrastructure-free field coverage. But until now, there had only been a few real operational use cases that proved 5G could handle a continuous multi-camera live production with full camera control, shading, tally, return feeds, and a broadcast-grade image pipeline.
In our case, we were specifically looking for a solution that could handle all of this at once without the need to combine multiple systems, protocols, and vendors
During the 24h challenge outside our broadcast center in Cologne, we deployed two Grass Valley LDX 110 cameras, each equipped with an integrated 5G Vislink module, connected to our local 5G NPN network. These cameras weren’t just sending images, they were fully integrated into our GV AMPP Remote Shading workflow.
What made this so unique?
- A multi-camera 5G production using the LDX 110 & Vislink combination for the first time
- Real-time camera shading and control over 5G, just like a cabled studio camera
- Vislink handling video transport, return video, camera control, and tally
- RTL’s private 5G network providing flawless coverage for 24 hours
- Demonstration that public or sliced 5G networks can be the next step
This wasn’t a small tech demo. This was prime time, live on RTL.
Imaging Beyond Traditional RF
For storytelling, this breakthrough is profound.
Traditional RF links still impose limitations—coverage zones, frequency licenses, bandwidth constraints, or the need for expensive airborne relay links (yes, including helicopters and chartered airplanes). 5G changes that completely.
With the integrated GV / Vislink 5G setup, our camera operators weren’t tied to a fixed infrastructure. They weren’t even tied to traditional RF restrictions. They had the freedom to move, to follow the action, and to cover all angles of the parcours.
And the result: images that felt fresh, dynamic, and truly live.
A Real Test: 24 Hours Non-Stop
Operationally, the system proved its reliability. Across the entire 24-hour broadcast window:
- The cameras delivered stable, broadcast-grade images
- Latency remained within acceptable live limits
- Shading via AMPP worked throughout the entire event
- Both Grass Valley and Vislink systems performed under real production pressure
Of course, like every PoC, we identified areas for improvement and shared detailed feedback with the engineering teams. But importantly, nothing stopped us from going on-air. Quite the opposite: the system enabled us to deliver every planned live segment.
As first attempts go, this one exceeded expectations.
Collaborative Production Without Boundaries
One aspect of this PoC that deserves special recognition is the direct integration of the cameras into AMPP. Specifically, AMPP’s Remote Shading capabilities turned the whole production chain—from camera operator to shader to vision mixer—into a seamless collaborative workflow.
No workarounds. No signal conversions. No “hope this works” moments.
Just the feeling: This is how future live production should work. This experiment not only helped us to improve the broadcast of our charity event, Spendenmarathon. It also proved something else:
5G is not a future technology for streaming and broadcast – it is already a practical, ready-to-use solution today.
It opens doors to new production models:
- Fully wireless multi-camera field productions
- Lightweight setups with minimal infrastructure
- Remote production workflows at scale
- Using public or sliced 5G networks for nationwide mobility
And we’re just getting started.
This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the fantastic collaboration and commitment of the teams at Grass Valley, Vislink, and RTL News. Special thanks to everyone who worked tirelessly before and during the event—on-site and remotely—to make this PoC a success.
The Spendenmarathon was the perfect platform to test a bold idea. It turned out to be a milestone.
We proved that 5G can carry a live show.
Now we’re ready to take the next step.
– Jens Schilder, RTL News
