DirecTV’s CEO Mike White told analysts during the company’s Q3 earnings call that the broadcaster was working on the kinds of technology needed to deliver a 4K experience to its customers, but was also cautious as to its implementation.  “From all those I talked to, both on the content side and on the distributor side, after the experience with 3D I think there’s a level of… I don’t want to say cautiousness, but to protect [our] options because it’s a very complex rollout that would be required.”

White explained that consumers needed “a new TV set, a different set-top box, you’ve got different compressions that you’ve got to have to deliver, you’ve got to shoot in 4K or you got have some way to up-convert. Everybody’s working on pieces of that, and I do think you will see a little bit more of it next year. But gosh, you’re still talking of very, very few homes in America that would have a TV capable of that. But we are working on it.”

He continued: “We’ve also said it’s more likely for any kind of material impact, you’re talking 2015 or 2016, to get all of these parts to come together. The content guys I talked to are being a little cautious having been burnt by 3D as well in terms of when they’re going to shoot in 4K. So I think we are, from a DirecTV standpoint, to make sure we’re going to be ready. And we’ll continue to innovate, and we hope to be there first with the best experience, the best sound and the best picture, as we always have, and that’s our commitment.”

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