Football fans expecting to stream coverage of the 2024 European football championship in Germany next summer may have to make do with subpar video quality, as it looks like the tournament will not be produced in 4K resolution.
That’s according to representatives of the broadcast industry in Germany and Austria, which are likely to be tasked with performing the actual broadcasts.
According to a report by FlatPanels HD, Tim Achberger of Sportcast, which broadcasts football matches on behalf of the representative association of Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga clubs, Deutsche Fussbal Liga, has said there are no plans to cover Euro 2024 games in 4K Ultra HD. Achberger reportedly cited UEFA officials as being behind the decision.
Achberger was speaking at the Sky Sport Summit 2023 and his comments were later confirmed by Karl Petermichi, the head of distribution at Austrian public broadcaster ORF. "Unfortunately I just received the confirmation from EURO 2024 production committee, that there will be no UHD production in Germany," Petermichi stated in a tweet.
The news is sure to come as a big blow to football fans, as a growing segment of consumers these days own 4K TVs, yet they won’t be able to watch the biggest sporting event of the year in native 4K. There were hopes that Euro 2024 in Germany might help to accelerate the adoption of the 4K Ultra HD standard, as big sporting events have often been used to showcase new video and audio formats. A growing number of sports events have been produced and broadcast in 4K in recent years, but admittedly not all of them.
FlatPanels HD notes that while the Euro 2024 production committee has not yet made any official statement on the possibility of native 4K coverage, it’s unlikely to have any last second change of heart.
Instead, the Euro 2024 finals matches will probably be broadcast in Full HD, or at the very best, upscaled 4K.
