NHK has said it will provide widespread coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in 8K ©NHK

Japan's national public broadcaster NHK has said it will provide widespread coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in 8K, including the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

As reported by Advanced Television, the Olympic broadcasts in 8K will cover seven sports, including athletics, football, judo and swimming.

The ultra-high-definition technology will also be used during coverage of badminton, table tennis and volleyball.

Four sports at the Paralympics will be covered, comprising athletics, badminton, swimming and wheelchair rugby.

The schedule means that there will be 8K transmissions on every day of Tokyo 2020.

There will be 8K coverage provided from the Tokyo 2020 Opening and Closing Ceremonies, due to take place at Japan's New National Stadium ©Getty Images
There will be 8K coverage provided from the Tokyo 2020 Opening and Closing Ceremonies, due to take place at Japan's New National Stadium ©Getty Images

At the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympics, helicopters equipped with 8K cameras will be used to broadcast live images above Japan’s New National Stadium.

NHK says this is the first attempt to broadcast 8K video live from a helicopter.

In January, it was reported that five major Tokyo-based private television networks will take turns broadcasting daily coverage of the Olympics in the Japanese capital.

According to Kyodo News, the move is intended to counter NHK, which has said it will televise the event from July 24 to August 8.

Sources say that out of the 15 days, other than the first, four will be allocated to Nippon Television Network Corporation, three each to TV Asahi Corporation, Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc. and Fuji Television Network, Inc., and two to TV Tokyo Corporation.