5G Broadcast TV Service Trials in Major Italian Cities

Abstract

‘LTE-based 5G Terrestrial Broadcast’, as standardised in Rel-16 and 
subsequent enhancements to adapt to the UHF broadcast band, enables innovative and cost-effective large-scale TV content delivery services towards personal consumer devices. This has raised significant interests across stakeholders involved in the media value chain, as proven by the growing number of trials carried out around the globe, demonstrating that the necessary conditions are in place for this technology to meet future content distribution needs. 

The Italian public broadcaster, Rai, has been actively involved in experimenting with 5G Broadcast technology from the early phases of its standardization. Since the end of 2024, Rai has been airing, in collaboration with the Italian Broadcast Network Operator Rai Way, the first large-scale pre-commercial 5G Broadcast service to exploit the reception of live content to audiences in major Italian cities. Initially covering Rome and Turin, the service will expand to Milan, Naples, and Palermo, potentially reaching 16 million inhabitants, about 27% of Italian population. The present paper summarizes 5G Broadcast field trials in Rome and Turin, compares results with simulations, and introduces an innovative approach under study in the ESA 5G-EMERGE project to feed 5G Broadcast transmitters via satellite.