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DirecTV: We'll Offer 4KTV Broadcasts Before Year's End

DirecTV says they'll begin broadcasting in the 4K ultra-high definition standard sometime this year, as the cable and broadcast industry continues to wait for 4K set ownership to reach critical mass. Even though pricing on 4KTVs have dropped in recent years, the industry remains hesitant after the mega-flop that was 3D television -- something DirecTV CEO Michael White admitted was fueling cable and broadcast reservations about 4KTV:

quote:
“This year is probably the first year you will start to see some critical mass of television sets in the home — still tiny but more than prior years … our plan is to have an Ultra-HD [Video on Demand] VOD capability by the end of this year,” he said. White highlighted the lackluster outcome of the hype that surrounded 3-D television as a reason for his reservation. He said the acceptance of Ultra-HD will likely depend on purchase patterns with 4K TV sets.
Research firms like Strategy Analytics believe 4KTV (aka Ultra-HD) television sales will comprise 41% of TV sales by 2020. Still, predictions for 3DTV were quite bullish, and it took the industry years to admit that the trend simply wasn't taking off. 4K might be different, given that many consumers feel that higher-resolution sets are less of a gimmick than 3D sets with cumbersome glasses. Time will tell.

There's still no word on how much content DirecTV will broadcast in 4K, or how much you'll have to pay for the privilege.

Most recommended from 63 comments


cahiatt
Premium Member
join:2001-03-21
Smyrna, GA

2 recommendations

cahiatt

Premium Member

Will this end up like XM or Sirius

They'll end up degrading or compressing the signal so much to fit it in the available bandwidth that the quality goes to complete crap.

OTA for me....

-edit- Just noticed another comment about it being VOD and downloading it via your broadband connection. Comcast is going to love those overages....