Japan planning world’s first 4K/Ultra HD live broadcast for the 2014 World Cup

By Adam Poltrack Published January 29, 2013

Global events like the World Cup have long been a proving ground for cutting-edge technologies. Last time around, we saw the beautiful game in 3-D. But according to Reuters, World Cup 2014, will be broadcast in 4K/Ultra HD.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications says it will deliver the cup in the nascent format by using free capacity on its communications satellites, favoring this method over the use of standard broadcast satellites. Apparently, the bandwidth needed is still too much for the latter to handle.

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This is big news. The world’s biggest sporting event, delivered via the next generation of TV tech? Sign us up. Despite the fact that the 4K/Ultra HD adoption rate is probably south of .00000001 percent, it’s nice to see to see the technology slouching towards Brazil to be born.

Here’s hoping that by the time the tournament kicks off, 4K/Ultra HD TV prices will have fallen enough for football (or, soccer, if you must) lovers to take advantage of this news en masse – but that’s about as likely as the ol’ US of A besting the field to become champions.

Though waiting for 4K/Ultra HD feels a bit like calender-watching around Christmas time, it is further along the pipeline than anticipated. Fingers crossed that this first broadcast goes off as planned because, if it does, it will only open up the floodgates. Word is the BBC is already planning its first 4K/Ultra HD broadcast, though it may be slightly less compelling to your average sports nut. It has pegged a wildlife program for its initial broadcast, which reportedly stars Meerkats.

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