As NFL fandom continues to grow in popularity among international audiences, broadcasters like RTL Deutschland are leading the way in innovation to serve passionate local audiences. In February, Super Bowl LIX marked a major milestone for Germany’s top entertainment company and exclusive free-to-air NFL rights holder. Over 1.7 million peak viewers tuned in to watch the Philadelphia Eagles defeat the two-time defending champions, Kansas City Chiefs.
To deliver The Big Game from Caesars Superdome in New Orleans to audiences across Germany, RTL engaged long-standing technical partnerships with LTN and Lumen — two companies with over 50 years of combined experience. Leveraging a powerful remote workflow, RTL employed LTN’s on-site production services with Lumen Vyvx Broadcast Solutions’ extensive reach and low-latency connectivity to produce a seamless live broadcast from the Caesars Superdome. The results? Streamlined operations, localised fan experiences and rising audience engagement — all from one of the most iconic stages in global sports.
Venue-to-viewer live sports workflows
RTL is innovation-first, committed to delivering the immersive, high-quality coverage that today’s NFL audiences expect. “We think of ourselves as innovation leaders when it comes to NFL broadcasts in Europe,” says Jens Schmitz, head of sports production at RTL Deutschland. “Our goal is to create state-of-the-art viewer experiences and expand the NFL fan base in Germany.” Partnering with LTN and Lumen provides the mission-critical reliability and future-ready production services RTL needs to accelerate that mission. “The combination of high-quality live event production and reliable transmission means LTN and Lumen offer a fully integrated, managed solution for producing and delivering major events,” Schmitz added.
The setup for Super Bowl LIX combined a powerful mix of on-site production services from LTN, transmitted over by Lumen to integrate with RTL’s production facility in Cologne, Germany. Meanwhile, RTL’s team utilised its centralised production facility in Cologne, to enable real-time communication between the on-site team, including the presenters and commentators, and the master control room in Cologne — ensuring a synchronised, high-quality broadcast experience.
For Mike Burk, LTN’s general manager, the priority is delivering reliable and streamlined, live venue-to-viewer sports workflows that maximise value and customisation for rights holders. “Integrating with Vyvx gives us in-venue access to some of the world’s most iconic stadiums in minutes,” says Burk. “In conjunction with low-latency JPEG-XS encoding and high-bandwidth signal transport, LTN’s live sports ecosystem offers a full suite of production and multipoint distribution services — ideal for delivering live, regionally-tailored coverage across new platforms and global markets.”
Big game, major milestones
RTL’s Super Bowl LIX production delivered more than just technical excellence, it delivered results — and demonstrated the broadcaster’s continued leadership in bringing international sports coverage to German audiences. The broadcast achieved standout ratings, capturing an average market share of 50.3 per cent among viewers aged 14-59, and dominating the 14-49 demographic with a 62.2 per cent share. “Live sports are a core element of our programming and a key growth driver for reach and advertising revenue — exclusive broadcasting rights are strategically highly valuable. On average, 1.46 million football fans watched our broadcast live throughout the night, peaking at up to 1.71 million viewers,” explains Schmitz. “These figures matched last year’s free-to-air record and confirm strong and growing engagement.”
On the transmission side, ‘The Big Game’ also set a new benchmark. “From a transmission perspective, this event used more capacity on the Vyvx network — over 500 GB — than any previous broadcasts of this magnitude,” adds Rick Gibson, vice president, Vyvx Solutions at Lumen Technologies. “It was a record-setting event in terms of bandwidth — and a perfect example of our solutions working in tandem to deliver a highly reliable, complete live event workflow, from New Orleans to Cologne.”
A new blueprint for Tier 1 remote production
RTL relies on LTN and Lumen to deliver high-quality live coverage with speed and precision from the U.S. The two companies’ technical integration, announced in March 2025, has enabled RTL to access a wide range of stadiums while leveraging the agility of centralised production.
A hybrid production model that blends best-in-class on-site and centralised workflow with the combined experience and innovation strength of live sports and remote production partners offers clear efficiency advantages. Schmitz explains: “Alongside optimising costs through centralised control and remote production, there are a number of factors we consider when bringing live NFL and other international content to domestic viewers, including integrating specialised graphics and on-screen elements for German audiences with different viewing habits or expectations compared to fans in the US.”
Burk highlights the rising demand for low latency transmission and flexible production services as rights holders push to bring more live events to global audiences. Smart interoperability, customer-centric workflows and value-added integrations are key to the future. “This partnership proves that when we combine production and transmission services as a unified team, we deliver a truly leading solution — especially for forward-thinking customers like RTL.”
Schmitz concludes by emphasising RTL’s audience-first approach: “Everything we do is about creating unique experiences for our audience. The NFL is one of the fastest-growing sports markets in Germany. That means we need easy access to every stadium, and innovative remote production tools to bring the best experiences to audiences at home — LTN and Lumen are a big part of making that happen.”