Movistar Plus starts 4K transmissions
November 3, 2015
From David Del Valle in Madrid
Responding to recently-launched Netflix’s 4K capabilities, Telefónica’s IPTV platform Movistar Plus is launching 4K transmissions, with the first Ultra HD broadcasts of football matches from La Liga and Formula One races on the channels Canal + Liga and Canal Moto GP.
Telefónica is using a bitrate three times more than in HD, with 30 Mbps under the codec HEVC or H,265. Two different audio tracks are being used, one encrypted on MPEG with a bitrate of 256 Kbps and another on AAC at 128 Kbps with the transmissions labelled as Pruebas UHDTV (Tests UHDTV).
The move comes as Telefónica prepares to distribute Smart TVs free of charge to its new subscribers as part of a Christmas campaign enabling them to watch 4K content and the launch of Movistar Plus apps on Samsung and LG TV sets enabling access to Movistar Plus without an STB.