Advanced Television

Industry ready for mass-market 4K

October 17, 2016

Colin Mann @ MIPCOM

Panellists at the opening session in the Sony 4K Ultra HD theatre at MIPCOM have declared that the broadcast industry is now at a stage where 4K is no longer a future prospect, with the suggestion that 2017 will see the format become mass-market.

Joe Nakata, Senior Producer, Sony Corporation Japan, noted the importance of the content market to the industry. “Having a beautiful display is no good if there’s no content to display,” he said, adding that in addition to a number of satellite-delivered channels, OTT players such as  Netflix and Amazon Prime were now producing programming in 4K and increasingly HDR.

Michel Chabrol, SVP, New TV Formats at Eutelsat, looked forward to similar events in 2017 where panellists would be able to report healthy subscriber numbers, with 4K available as a separate package in pay-TV options in mass-market adoption.

Rian Bester, CEO of INsight TV, said the service was “not just another showcase of beauty shots” to highlight UHD. “We are truly creating compelling content in Ultra HD,” he asserted, adding that the company was ramping up its HDR production.

In addition to its linear offerings, INsight said that right from the start, it needed to cover “all bases” to reach the consumer and was offering mobile and-IP delivered content via tablet, PC and was also exploring gaming devices.

Claudia Vaccarone, Head of Market Research and Customer Experience at Eutelsat, said the satellite operator had identified some 60 4K channels or services currently available, with 30 being delivered by satellite and noted research that suggested there would be 785 such services by 2025. In the light of such figures, Vaccarone described UHD as “a global effect and phenomenon”.

Earlier, delegates had been welcomed to the event by a specially-recorded video message from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in which he noted that MIPCOM would feature Japan’s high-definition broadcasting technology, advising that in 2020 the Olympics and Paralympics would be coming to Tokyo. “I am looking forward to sharing the enthusiasm through our advanced 4K and 8K technology,” he said.

 

Categories: Articles, Equipment, Production, UHD, Ultra-HD/4K