Sky Arts to broadcast Isle of Wight Festival live in 4K UHD

The legendary Isle of Wight music Festival is getting an image upgrade. Sky has confirmed that it will broadcast the event live in UHD on Sky Arts, for the first time.

Coverage of the festival, which boasts headline acts David Guetta, Rod Stewart, Run DMC and Arcade Fire, begins on June 9. Other performers on the bill include Bastille, The Kooks, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Razorlight and Clean Bandit. Sky Arts is planning to offer four hours of live Ultra HD entertainment every night, all hosted by Edith Bowman, Maya Jama and Kaiser Chiefs frontman, Ricky Wilson. 

“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,” enthused Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts and head of entertainment. “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 event will be transmitted in 2160/50p. Ultra HD coverage of the Isle of Wight festival will be produced by CC Lab.

Sky Arts is also broadcasting exclusive coverage of this year’s Download Festival (June 9-11) and the 2017 Cambridge Folk Festival (July 27-30). However neither will be shown in UHD.

Currently Sky offers 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.  The broadcaster also has six new Sky Original Productions on its 2017 slate, including Guerrilla, Riviera, Tin Star, Save Me, Britannia and The Tunnel: Vengeance.