Advanced Television

Ultra-HD/4K

Russia’s MTS starts 4K transmissions

Russia’s Mobile Tele Systems (MTS) is test broadcasting 4K signals on its satellite-based pay-TV service. MTS says that it will debut full transmissions once reception equipment is available for consumers. According to Comnews.Ru the broadcaster plans to use the more efficient DVB-S2 transmission standard, and to also boost the number of HDTV channels carried. MTS […]

December 9, 2014By Chris Forrester

Civolution boosts Wuaki.tv Ultra HD content protection

Civolution, the solutions specilaist for identifying, managing and monetising content and the European streaming service Wuaki.tv, part of Rakuten Group, the world’s third largest e-commerce company, have conformed the integration and deployment of Civolution’s content protection technology NexGuard, which is enabling Wuaki.tv to roll out session-based watermarking for Ultra HD movies. The Wuaki.tv platform aims […]

December 9, 2014

4K “milestone” for DirecTV-14

DirecTV’s latest satellite, its fourteenth, was successfully launched out of French Guyana on December 6th, and will be a “significant milestone” in DirecTV’s build-up of its 4K/Ultra-HDTV services. Phil Goswitz, DirecTV’s SVP/Space and Communications, speaking from the launch, congratulated rocket company Arianespace as well as Space Systems/Loral, the satellite’s builder on the success, adding: “Today […]

December 8, 2014By Chris Forrester

Fransat switching to MPEG-4, adds 4K

French FTA broadcasts under its Fransat system will switch from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 in 15-16 months from now, around Spring 2016”. The decision means that viewers will have to buy a new Fransat HD compatible MPEG-4 receiver from around 40 available on the market. Boxes will shortly start appearing with MPEG-4 and a logo (“Fransat […]

December 8, 2014By Chris Forrester

DirecTV readies for 4K satellite

Arianespace is ready to launch into space DirecTV’s latest satellite. DirecTV-14, once it has launched and reached its correct orbital position, will host the broadcaster’s 4K/Ultra-HD transmissions. The satellite has been placed in its special housing atop a smaller satellite being launched for India (GSAT-16). The two satellites are protected by the rockets encapsulating fairing. […]

December 2, 2014By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat more confident on UHD

Executives at Eutelsat have suggested that 2015 will be the year of 4K/Ultra-HD, driven by increased affordability of sets, greater availability of content and ongoing standardisation. The comments, which mark the operator’s growing confidence in adoption of the technology, were made at an awards ceremony in Rome. Italian state broadcaster RAI’s pioneering work in 4K/UHD […]

December 1, 2014By Colin Mann

Black Friday to boost 4K TV sales

TV makers and retailers have added Ultra-HD TVs to their Black Friday promotions for the first time. This time last year, the first wave of 4K TVs in the US carried prices of $7,000 and upwards. Today, retail giant Best Buy will have a 55-inch Samsung Ultra-HD Smart TV for $899.99, a price cut of […]

November 28, 2014

Eutelsat, SuperTennis to air live 4K tennis

Satellite operator Eutelsat and Italian TV channel SuperTennis have teamed up to air the finals of the Italian Serie A1 tennis championship (male and female) in Ultra-HD.  The event, taking place 6th – 8th December at the 105 Stadium in Genoa, will be broadcast live on 4K1, the first satellite channel in Europe to convey […]

November 28, 2014From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Global TV shipments rebound, 4K sales accelerate

According to global market research and consulting firm DisplaySearch, global TV shipments, led by continued strong demand in North America, grew more than 4 per cent last quarter, after several quarters of weak growth. LCD TV shipments alone rose nearly 9 per cent, according to the latest findings in the Quarterly Global TV Shipment and […]

November 26, 2014

UK delay for Wuaki.tv 4K content

Spain-based streaming service Wuaki.tv will launch Ultra-HD content on December 1st in France and Germany. Deals for 4K content in its other European markets, including the UK and Spain, have yet to be agreed – but the company anticipates arrangements to be in place in early 2015. Jordi Miró, chief technology officer at Wuaki.tv, commented: […]

November 26, 2014