Brazil’s largest broadcaster to show the World Cup final in 4K

Footy fans in Brazil will be able to enjoy World Cup matches this summer in 4K courtesy of host broadcaster Globo. The Latin American media company announced overnight that it will be setting up a batch of Sony’s 65-inch 4K TVs in Rio’s Jardim Botanico neighbourhood. It’ll only be for three games – a second round match, a quarter final and the final itself – so the same ones we were told back in April would be getting the fancy 4K treatment.

Brazil’s largest broadcaster will set up large outdoor screens in Rio to broadcast the soccer World Cup final, giving fans a glimpse of television’s future. Globo Comunicacao & Participacoes SA, the Brazilian broadcaster owned by the billionaire Marinho family, will work with Sony Corp. (6758) and soccer’s governing body FIFA to broadcast three World Cup games, including the July 13 final, in an ultra-high definition format as a way to “look at the future,” Jose Manuel Marino, the TV network’s head of technology for sports, said in a telephone interview. The company will set up special 65-inch (165-centimeter) screens in Rio de Janeiro’s lush Jardim Botanico neighborhood to broadcast the matches in the new format, known as 4K, he said. Globo will need about 2,500 workers to broadcast the monthlong tournament, with about 1,500 of them accredited by FIFA, spread over the world’s fifth-largest country, according to Marino. Given the size of the team and the distances involved, Globo’s coverage “will be the largest I know of,” he said.