Isle of Wight Festival to air in Ultra HD

This year’s festival season kicks off with a bang, with Sky Arts broadcasting a major music festival live and in Ultra HD for the very first time with Sky Q. The channel will be the exclusive home to the 2017 Isle of Wight festival, with live TV coverage from headline acts including David Guetta, Rod Stewart, Run DMC and Arcade Fire.

Once live coverage of the festival begins on Friday 9 June, Sky Arts viewers will be able to enjoy four hours of live Ultra HD entertainment every night, all hosted by Edith Bowman, Maya Jama and Kaiser Chiefs frontman, Ricky Wilson. Headline performers on the Main Stage and in the Big Top also include Bastille, The Kooks, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Razorlight and Clean Bandit – and they’ll all be in stunning Ultra HD with Sky Q.

Boasting up to four times the definition of HD, the Ultra HD coverage offers music aficionados and festival fans crisper views of the action, sharp and vibrant colours, and a faster frame rate, making sure the performances appear as smooth and sharp on screen as they are on stage.

Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts and head of entertainment, said: “The Isle of Wight festival truly marks the start of the UK’s festival season, and by capturing all the excitement on and off stage in Ultra HD, Sky Arts and Sky Q are completely changing the viewing experience for music fans watching the festival from the comfort of their own homes forever. This will be the first time any major UK music festival has been broadcast in Ultra HD and I am excited for festival fans who will now be able to get even closer to the music they love without having to be at the event.”

The Ultra HD coverage of the Isle of Wight festival, produced by CC Lab, is another landmark moment in Sky Q’s Ultra HD entertainment offering. With 124 live Premier League games throughout this season and next, every F1® grand prix race and this summer’s England Test series against South Africa all in Ultra HD, sports fans are spoilt for choice. And in addition to new movies such as Ghostbusters 2016, X-Men Apocalypse and Independence Day: Resurgence launching on Sky Cinema, six new Sky Original Productions, including Guerrilla, which is available now, and the forthcoming dramas Riviera, Tin Star, Save Me, Britannia and The Tunnel: Vengeance are all available in Ultra HD.