BBC 4K via IP?
June 3, 2015
By Colin Mann
Andy Quested, Head of HD and UHD at the BBC, has suggested that any entry by the broadcaster into providing UHD/4K content needn’t necessarily be in the form of a ‘traditional’ channel service.
Speaking at the Futuresource Consulting New Content Horizons conference in London, Quested – who stressed that the Corporation didn’t have a UHD implementation strategy and he was speaking in a personal capacity – told delegates that as the BBC was providing a broad range of HD content, a future possibility was that UHD could be accessed via the connected ‘Red Button’ which would take the viewer to an IP feed.
He admitted that the idea of not offering a ‘traditional’ service had been sparked by comments made by executives of Japanese broadcaster NHK, who had intimated that its Super Hi-Vision 8K system could be an optional service.
The BBC has already participated in trials of providing UHD content over IP, working with BT and Arqiva to screen the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final at the BT Tower in London.