The Europa League Round of 32 second leg between Arsenal and Olympiakos recently held at Emirates Stadium was the first occasion that the UK have experienced a live 8K sports broadcast.
BT, a telecommunications giant based in the UK, teamed up with Samsung to bring all of the action of Olympiakos narrowly making it through to the next Europa League round by beating Arsenal on away goals – all in a stunning enhanced display.
To make all of this possible, the competition was broadcast directly from Emirates Stadium in London using BT Sport’s 8K set-up and then delivered that to Samsung’s QLED 8K television sets. The South Korean technology firm claims the broadcast resolution was four times the quality of 4K, using a total of 33 million pixels.
BT has already delivered world-firsts, including virtual reality (VR), Dolby Atmos sound, 4K picture quality and remote production during its sports broadcasts.
“For 50 years Samsung has pioneered the TV category, from the launch of the world’s first digital colour TV in 1998, the world’s thinnest TV in 2002, the first double-sided LCD screen in 2006 and then one of our biggest advancements to date; the first company to bring 8K TVs to the UK in 2018,” said Dan Hastings, Samsung UK’s Director of TV and Audio Visual.
“We have shown that we never rest when it comes to pursuing meaningful innovations that could supercharge the way people consume content. It is great that we can add showing the first 8K broadcast to that list with BT Sport in 2020.”
Always looking ahead in future technological advancements, BT is committed to staying up-to-date with the latest innovations.
“BT Sport has a rich history of leading the industry with broadcast innovation to provide our customers the best viewing experience in the UK,” said Jamie Hindhaugh, BT Sport’s Chief Operating Officer.
“Whether it’s last season’s launch of the world’s first regular high dynamic range service, BT Sport Ultimate, or, our world-leading remote production activity we’re constantly working to provide the best possible experience.”
Last year, the network launched BT Sport Ultimate, the first service to feature regular programming in high dynamic range (HDR) as well as 4K ultra-high definition (UHD) and Dolby Atmos sound.
