1000 Ultra HD channels by 2025
October 17, 2013
By Chris Forrester
A new report from IHS Electronics & Media says that Ultra HD (4K) will be mainstream by the end of this decade. By 2020, the report’s author Tom Morrod says there will be 140 million TV homes watching at least one Ultra HD channel, and more than 50 million Ultra HD set-top boxes installed. Morrod says that Ultra HD will happen much faster than the roll-out of ‘ordinary’ HD TV.
“By 2020 there will be over 200 Ultra HD channels worldwide, rising to over 1,000 by 2025. The availability of Ultra HD TVs in the home and Ultra HD services by pay TV operators with advanced set-top boxes will drive the commercial opportunity for channel launches and content production,” says Morrod.
“[During the next 12 years] Ultra HD TV will go from technical standards to technology ecosystem to commercial mass market. This will broadly align with the launch of HD TV, which was confirmed as a technology standard in 1990, reached technology ecosystem availability in 2002 and commercial mass market in 2006. Ultra HD will happen much faster, equivalently having the technology ready and available before 2017 and commercial opportunities for pay TV operators and content makers by 2023,” added Morrod.