6 World Cup TV broadcasting milestones
6 Jun 2014
If the news has so far passed you by, you may be interested to hear that Brazil is hosting a footballing shindig this summer and it's getting started in less than a week. In past years, it hasn't been uncommon for the World Cup to be a testing bed for the latest TV tech.
This summer's tournament is no exception – and this time it's Ultra HD 4K. We've already heard how Sony and FIFA have joined forces to produce three live matches in the format, but now the BBC has confirmed it'll be carrying out broadcast trials, albeit privately.
MORE: Ultra HD 4K TV – news, reviews and everything you need to know
We'll be watching, perhaps not literally, with great interest to see how Ultra HD 4K gets on in Brazil at the 2014 World Cup. But with the countdown to the big kick off nearly at its end, we cast our mind back to past TV milestones to see how we arrived at this stage.
MORE: How to watch the 2014 FIFA World Cup on TV and online
1954: First televised World Cup
It wasn't until the fifth World Cup – held in Switzerland – that the TV cameras turned up to capture proceedings. The Eurovision network had gone live, which let the BBC show a handful of games from the tournament to audiences back home.
Until the launch of ITV in 1955, the BBC had all the aces when it came to British TV. But the fledgling commercial network made its presence felt in 1958 with the start of what is now common dual-network coverage of the tournament.
But if you think live coverage of the World Cup – however restricted – was now a matter of course, 1962 proved otherwise as the technology to broadcast from Chile just wasn't in place. The BBC went solo as delayed coverage two days old was as good as it got.
The first Telstar satellite went live just after the 1962 tournament, but 1966 saw football "come home" and meant that live coverage was almost a formality..
