BT TV unveils Europe's first 4K sports channel and pricing

BT has announced that its new BT TV Ultra HD set top box will play host to Europe's very first 4K live sports channel, BT Sport Ultra HD. 

The new channel will launch on 2nd August and its first live broadcast will be the FA Community Shield match at Wembley between Chelsea and Arsenal. This will be followed by the first game of the Barclays Premier League season with Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on Saturday 8th August, but BT Sport Ultra HD will also be showing other games from the UEFA Champions League, Barclays Premier League, FA Cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby and MotoGP all in glorious 4K. 

To get BT Sports Ultra HD, you'll need to sign up for BT's top TV package, Entertainment Ultra HD. This costs £15 per month and includes BT's new 1TB Ultra HD YouView+ set top box, which gives you 600 hours of SD or 250 hours of HD storage and 47 premium channels, with 13 in HD and the BT Sport Pack with all of the UEFA Champions League and, of course, BT Sports Ultra HD. To help sweeten the deal, BT's also throwing in a £500 off voucher for an LG 4K UHD TV, just in case you've yet to make the jump to 4K.

However, you will need BT Infinity 1 or 2 and a fast enough line to support BT Sport Ultra HD, so it could be a rather costly upgrade if you haven't already got the requisite BT requirements. 

Delia Bushell, managing director of BT TV and BT Sport, said: “The best way to watch BT Sport is with BT TV. BT Sport Ultra HD is the next step in high definition TV and provides a truly cinematic viewing experience and is available only on BT TV. The BT Sport Ultra HD channel will bring you closer to the action than ever before. The picture quality is absolutely amazing – it’s four times the detail of today’s high definition TV. We are proud to be innovating and leading the UK TV market with our Entertainment Ultra HD package which offers customers the best in premium TV.”

Sky has also just made its own streaming sports announcement: a monthly Sky Sports bundle for its Now TV box for the first time. It's not cheap at £32 a month but you get a lot of content for your money and you can turn it on-and-off at will, so you can pick and choose your months.