Belgium's Flemish public broadcaster embraces innovation and digitisation in grand fashion with Leyard Europe

VRT, the public broadcaster of the Flemish Community in Belgium, is paving the way for a new era of media production with its latest cutting-edge studio. The new multifunctional studio of VRT represents a pivotal leap into the future of media production. Equipped with an immense U-shaped LED wall, measuring an impressive 33 metres in width and 4 metres in height, crafted from Leyard Europe's VEM Series LED solution, the studio promises to usher in a wave of creativity, efficiency, and accessibility in the production process. It will also allow VRT to stay relevant in a rapidly changing media landscape and fully explore the potential of virtual technologies for broadcasting.

Integration Partner:

Stijn Lehaen, General Director of Technology & Infrastructure at VRT NWS, explains, “This multifunctional studio is a logical continuation of the innovation work VRT has been doing in recent years. For quite some time we have been researching and testing how, among other things, game technology makes virtual media productions possible. With this new studio, we are turning the results of this process into a sustainable investment in VRT's production infrastructure. Alongside that, it is also an important step towards a new, efficient way of making media that we will fully apply in the new building.”

Following the successful installation of their news studio last year, VRT chose Leyard Europe for their new multifunctional studio project. Cris Tanghe, Vice President Product at Leyard Europe, elaborates on their choice, “The VEM Series was an ideal fit for this studio design due to its slim cabinet design, allowing for a seamless and smooth corner setup. Furthermore, the VEM Series offers redundancy in both signal paths and power, ensuring maximum uptime. The deployment of the VEM Series in vertical mode enabled the Leyard Europe team in combination with strong support of local system integrator Play AV to create a seamlessly curved display. With a pixel pitch of 1.5mm we were able to enhance the visual experience from various camera angles and offer an excellent on-camera performance.”

This new studio is set to become a hub for a variety of shows, necessitating the expansive U-shaped backdrop to accommodate diverse decors for VRT's programming. The project was executed during the summer and debuted on air in October 2023 for current affairs programmes. In time, entertainment programmes will also be able to fully leverage the creative capabilities of the new studio.

“The Leyard Europe offering also includes remote monitoring of the entire solution, full front access, hot-swappable LED module replacement within seconds, and high-end processing with ultra-low latency and genlock,” continues Tanghe.

As Liesbet Vrieleman, General Editor-in-Chief of VRT NWS, points out, “Current affairs and debate are more important than ever in these fast-changing and confusing times. With the integration of new technologies in the multifunctional studio, we can make the analysis and interpretation of news even more comprehensible and accessible to viewers. Ahead of the election year of 2024, we are fully committed to innovation, creativity and efficiency.”

“Thanks to the large LED wall, we can support our stories even better with strong images and graphics, at any place in the studio. We will be able to introduce new narrative forms even faster in the future thanks to flexible set elements and the matching content on the LED wall.”

Christophe Janssens
Creative Director, VRT NWS