Despite admitting just over a month ago that it was "a little too soon" for 4K TV broadcasts, Sky has revealed it successfully conducted the first live 4K broadcast in the UK over the weekend.
Filming the English Premier League match between West Ham and Stoke City on Saturday August 31st, Sky relayed the whole match live over satellite in Ultra HD quality to its Sky HQ studio in |sleworth.
Unlike the 4K trial run conducted by BBC and Sony during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships this summer, which was recorded and played back in a special 4K Experience Zone on site, this was delivered as 'live' footage by Sky.
The match was directed, produced and edited in real-time before being shown on an the 84in Sony KD-84X9005 UHD TV at the company's headquarters.
Sky were keen to play down the possibility that this was any sort of product launch, but did say that the broadcast was "an early demonstration of Sky's on-going tests to develop the broadcast requirements to meet any future demand for Ultra HD".
A Sky spokesman said: "As you’d expect from Sky, we are constantly experimenting and evaluating new technologies which may help our customers get more enjoyment from the TV they love.
"As part of this research we have successfully broadcast a test event in Ultra HD. It’s yet another UK first for Sky. We will continue to test and learn so that we’re ready as and when the market for Ultra HD begins to develop."
Barney Francis, Managing Director, Sky Sports, said: "We saw enough in this test event to know that live sport in UHD has real potential.
"The broadcast also demonstrated the capability of our satellite platform, which is ideally placed to continue supporting high-bandwidth video."
Sky's 4K test clearly demonstrates that live 4K broadcasting can work and, if the market for Ultra HD TV expands, we could expect the likes of Sky, which has done so much to push HD broadcasts, to back 4K TV broadcasts in the next few years. Watch this space...
MORE: All you need to know about 4K Ultra HD TV