On June 30, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications released a "notification" to consumers saying that 4K television sets, which have been on the market for several years now, require "special receivers" in order to display 4K high-definition broadcasts. In addition, there are no plans among Japan's broadcasters to air 4K content until 2018 at the earliest.
4K ultra-high-definition TVs have screens that are at least 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels high, which is about four times as many pixels as a full (2K) high-definition television screen of comparable size, so the appeal is better resolution and color fidelity.
4K UHD is the current reason home electronics manufacturers give consumers for why they should replace their current TV. The Rio Olympics start next month, and in the past, new television models were promoted in line with the Summer Games to take advantage of new technologies that might be featured in the broadcasts. This time, however, such advertising has been relatively lacking, owing to the fact that none of the broadcasts that most people receive will use 4K technology.