South Korea becomes first country in the world to get a UHD TV channel

Dedicated ultra-high-definition programming will go live in South Korea six months ahead of schedule. 

The biggest argument against buying a new UHD TV — there's no native content available — is no more, well in South Korea anyway. 

One of the first countries to start selling the television sets which boast images with four times the resolution of existing HD displays has now beaten Japan to the punch in becoming the first country in the world to broadcast native UHD content. 

According to the Korea IT Times, The Korea Cable Television & Telecommunications Associations (KCTA) had intended to start pilot programming in January 2014 with a view to commercialising the technology by the end of 2015.  

But now KCTA hopes that the five broadcasters that will carry out testing on the platform starting this week will be able to start offering households proper UHD TV program schedules by 2014. 

Like South Korea, Japan has invested heavily in the infrastructure and supporting technologies needed in order to broadcast UHD TV signals to consumers and had set itself the rather lofty target of screening the final of the 2014 FIFA World Cup live, as the world's first full Ultra High Definition non-pilot broadcast. 

In Europe, a channel on the EUTELSAT 10A satellite is currently being used by broadcasters for testing the capabilities of ultra high definition programming.  

However, the content is mostly demonstration-based programming. 

The channel is serving as a proof of concept and as a workshop for other broadcasters and TV industry organisations so that they can develop their own ultra-high definition offerings and business plans in time for when the technology and its adoption become more widespread. 

There is currently no official word as to what will be broadcast on South Korea's UHD channel or of how many homes have already adopted the technology. — ©AFP/Relaxnews 2013