BT is stealing a march on Sky Sports by announcing plans to bring Europe’s first-ever ‘Ultra HD’ 4K TV channel on stream for the start of next season’s Premier League, making your sport viewing a whole lot clearer.
On the back of winning the rights to air all Champions League matches – at the expense of Sky Sports – the entertainment giant’s introduction of 4K TV will surely help it corner another slice of the sports-watching market.
Called BT Sport Ultra HD, early August’s Community Shield will be the first broadcast event, before the main football calendar kicks into play later in the month.
BT will also be introducing a new BT TV Ultra HD set-top box, with Sky subscribers having to pay an additional UK£5 per month to avail of the newly-acquired European games.
New chapter for BT, but Sky’s 4K TV can’t be far away
“This is a new chapter for European football on TV. BT Sport will show hundreds of live matches throughout the tournament using the very latest technology. Our presenters and experts will also provide the smartest insight and analysis,” said John Petter, chief executive of BT Consumer.
So next up will be Sky Sports, whose own plans for a 2016 introduction of 4K TV was revised once BT came on the scene and started challenging its position at the top of the ‘sport on TV’ tree.
This is a corporate battle that will work out in the consumers’ favour, though, with it resulting in plenty more welcome advances in technology, rather than novelty failures of recent years (cough, 3D, cough).
Real Madrid v Barcelona image, via Shutterstock
