BCE and Freecaster produced and live-streamed RTL Group’s Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of RTL Group, held on 30 June 2020, was produced by BCE and live-streamed by Freecaster, from Luxembourg and London, to RTL Group’s shareholders.

In light of the global spread of the coronavirus disease and in accordance with the Grand Ducal Regulation of 20 March 2020, RTL Group’s AGM was held without the shareholders physically present. Voting rights were exercised electronically during the AGM, by correspondence beforehand, or by proxy.

“While the coronavirus disease is still spreading worldwide, it is crucial to adapt to the situation using modern technology. With its growing variety of services, BCE was glad to support RTL Group with its first virtual Annual General Meeting,” comments Frédéric Lemaire, CEO at BCE.

Using its modern/state-of-the-art outside broadcasting van, BCE produced the AGM in high definition, with feeds from RTL City in Luxembourg, including the integration of the meeting’s presentation, and a feed coming from London. Thanks to its streaming platform and advanced player, Freecaster integrated the live production and ensured the live stream. In addition to the adaptive bitrate allowing a seamless experience for the viewers, the player featured simultaneous translation from English into French and German and was integrated in the voting portal for the shareholders.

A large conference room at RTL City in Luxembourg, where RTL Group’s Executive Committee and the representatives of the statutory auditor were present, was equipped with three Panasonic PTZ robotic cameras. RTL Group’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, Martin Taylor, was cut in live via video conference from Fremantle in London, UK, where the headquarters of RTL Group’s content business is located.

“Our media expertise and advanced services allow seamless live production and streaming. Thanks to numerous modules and a highly flexible platform, we were able to live-stream the event integrating a multi-language selection as well as the voting system provided by Lumi, ” explains Xavier Thillen, Head of Production & Digital Media Operations at BCE.

About RTL Group

RTL Group is a leader across broadcast, content and digital, with interests in 68 television channels, eight streaming platforms and 31 radio stations. RTL Group also produces content throughout the world and owns several rapidly growing digital video businesses. The television portfolio of Europe’s largest broadcaster includes RTL Television in Germany, M6 in France, the RTL channels in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Croatia, Hungary and Antena 3 in Spain. RTL Group’s families of TV channels are either the number one or number two in eight European countries. The Group’s flagship radio station is RTL in France, and it also owns or has interests in other stations in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg. RTL Group’s content business, Fremantle, is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content. Fremantle has an international network of production teams, companies and labels in over 30 countries, producing over 12,800 hours of original programming and distributing over 20,000 hours of content worldwide. Combining the streaming-services of its broadcasters (such as TV Now, 6play, Videoland), the digital video networks BroadbandTV and Divimove; and Fremantle’s more than 300 YouTube channels, RTL Group has become the leading European media company in online video. RTL Group also owns the ad-tech businesses Smartclip and SpotX.RTL AdConnect is RTL Group’s international advertising sales house. Bertelsmann is the majority shareholder of RTL Group. RTL Group is listed on the Luxembourg and Frankfurt stock exchanges and in the MDax stock index.

RTL Group – Entertain. Inform. Engage.

About BCE

Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) is a European leader in media services, system integration and software development in the areas of television, radio, production and postproduction, telecommunication and IT.

With its extensive experience on the media market, our team provides high-quality services and will always find the solution that matches your project and budget.

With more than 200 highly qualified and motivated people, BCE serves about 400 clients in various sectors, such as TV channels, radio stations, film distributors, producers, advertising companies, telecommunications operators and public services.

About Freecaster

Since 2019, Freecaster is a subsidiary of Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE). Freecaster’s services span across the entire video value chain from production to world-wide streaming via a proprietary online video platform. Since its foundation in 2004, Freecaster has developed as a specialist in online video services for both live and on-demand high-quality content serving customers such as TV and radio broadcasters, brands, event organisers and sport and cultural events.

Among Freecaster’s customers are the Belgian Public Broadcaster RTBF as well as fashion houses (LVMH group and others), music festivals (Tomorrowland), international institutions (European Commission, Bundesrat – the German Federal Council) and sports championships (FIM Motocross World Championship – MXGP).

Freecaster – Live stream and beyond.