COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT
C ontinuing a 13-year tradition, Riedel
Communications supplied a massive,
all-fiber communications and signal
distribution network for the 2018
Eurovision Song Contest, which is
the world’s longest-running international
television song competition.
The 63rd annual contest was broadcast live
from the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, with
Riedel’s MediorNet real-time media network
providing redundant and decentralized signal
routing and transport from start to finish. Riding
atop the MediorNet signal backbone, Riedel’s
Artist digital matrix intercom system and Bolero
wireless intercom provided comprehensive
communications for crew and performers.
200 million viewers
Over its six-decade history, the Eurovision Song
Contest has become one of the most-watched
non-sporting events in the world, with the 2018
broadcast reaching an estimated global audience
of 200 million. For all three broadcasts (two
semi-final broadcasts and the finals), Riedel
supplied the signal and communications
backbone for Videohouse, which produced
the show’s world feed on behalf of EBU and
Portugal’s public broadcasting company, RTP.
“I was heavily involved with setting up a
long-term contract between EBU and Riedel,”
says Ola Melzig, head of production for the 2018
Eurovision Song Contest. “Pretty much every
single outside broadcast truck in Europe that is
big enough to do the Eurovision Song Contest
has a Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom
installed. Since the delivery of radios, intercom
panels, commentator panels, accreditation, fiber
backbone and signal distribution are static from
year to year, it made all the sense in the world
to set up this deal, since it generates significant
savings both for this year’s host broadcaster and
future ones. In addition to that package, we also
bought the whole IT solution from Riedel, so we
had a one-stop shop for our digital ecosystem.
It was absolutely perfect!”
AUDITORIA 2019 VOLUME ONE 65
Ralph Larmann