UK broadcaster Sky has announced that it is the first to broadcast a live event in 4K. The event in question was this past weekend's soccer match between West Ham and Stoke. Sky didn't go into much detail on the work or equipment that went into the broadcast except to say that it was a "fully-fledged live production, with multiple cameras and a full outside broadcast."
It seems Sky intends to continue its experimentations in Ultra HD, though the broadcaster didn't offer any concrete information on its plans. Speaking via blog post, Barney Francis, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said that the test event showed that Ultra HD has real potential and proved that Sky's satellite platform is 'ideally placed' to support high-bandwidth video. Ultimately, Sky plans to continue its research and development of Ultra HD, focusing on how to maximize the technology from a live production perspective.
Details like consumer adoption rate will shape Sky's Ultra HD plans. Certainly, the TVs are there, we saw enough of them at CES 2013 this past January. It's just whether customers are willing to jump on the trend this early in the game. It's not like 4K TVs are very affordable, and there isn't a whole lot of content to support the format just yet. It'll probably be at least a year before that changes in any radical way.
Follow Jane McEntegart @JaneMcEntegart. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.
