German motorsport series DTM is running onboard camera transmissions over a private 5G network from live production tools provider Riedel Communications, the company's first deployment of the technology for a major racing series. The deal, struck with DTM and broadcast service provider TV Skyline, makes Riedel's equipment the main transmission method for onboard cameras across the championship.

The numbers are concrete. The network runs on 100MHz of spectrum and delivers uplink data rates of 140Mb/s. Riedel said the way the system uses spectrum yields network capacity gains at what it called "comparatively low bandwidth". The architecture needs only four to seven antennas, which simplifies trackside deployment for a series that moves between circuits through the season.

What does this change for viewers?

The immediate commercial answer: more onboard footage, from more cars, at higher quality. The network is configured to handle feeds from 21 DTM cars, alongside additional camera angles from the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Germany support series. TV Skyline CEO Wolfgang Reeh said the system helps his company deliver innovative coverage and removes a "limitation in the area of onboard cameras".

DTM managing director Claudia Wagner framed the deal as part of the series' wider digital push. She said DTM is advancing its digital ambitions and opening the door to "show spectacular onboard footage".

A marketing pitch worth separating from the engineering

Riedel pitched the deployment as an "essential step toward fully digitally-connected" racing cars and promised "more immersive motorsports coverage". Those claims belong to the vendor's promotional register. What the contract actually delivers today is narrower: a private 5G uplink for onboard cameras, replacing earlier transmission arrangements that the parties describe as more traditional and vendor-led.

The distinction matters for other rights holders and broadcasters weighing similar moves. The technical case here rests on three measurable elements:

• 100MHz of spectrum and uplink rates up to 140Mb/s
• An antenna count of four to seven per deployment
• Capacity configured for 21 simultaneous DTM car feeds

Whether that translates into a fully connected racing car — telemetry, biometrics, expanded fan-facing data — remains a future Riedel position rather than a delivered capability.

First racing series for Riedel's private 5G

Lutz Rathmann, CEO of managed technology at Riedel Communications, confirmed the DTM deal marks the first time the company has applied private 5G to a major racing series. That makes the championship a reference deployment for Riedel in a market segment — sports production connectivity — where mobile network operators and neutral-host providers have also been courting rights holders.

For TV Skyline, a German broadcast service provider, the arrangement addresses a production bottleneck rather than a fan-facing product in itself. Onboard cameras have long been constrained by the bandwidth available from conventional wireless links at circuits, where temporary infrastructure must be built and torn down event by event. A private 5G system sized for four to seven antennas cuts that overhead.

Broader context

The DTM move fits a wider pattern in live sport, where event organizers are deploying localized 5G rather than relying on public networks or licensed microwave links to move video. Motorsport is a demanding use case: cars travel at high speed, handovers between antennas are frequent, and uplink — not downlink — capacity is the binding constraint, since the traffic is almost entirely video leaving the vehicle.

Riedel, headquartered in Wuppertal, Germany, has built its business on communications and signal infrastructure for broadcast and live events. Extending that into private 5G puts it alongside vendors pushing standalone non-public networks into media production, an area where spectrum access and interference management at each venue remain the practical obstacles.

With the network configured for 21 cars and the Porsche Sixt Carrera Cup Germany already integrated, DTM and its partners have a platform they can scale as onboard camera counts and fan-facing digital services grow through coming seasons.