Insight TV, which produces 4K UHD HDR content, said it signed an agreement with the National Cable Television Cooperative to offer its 4K/UHD network to NCTC member providers. MTC, which serves the Central Catskill region of New York, is the first to launch Insight TV under the pact, according to Mark Romano, VP, Americas, Insight TV.

NCTC represents more than 750 small and mid-sized independent cable and broadband operators. MTC added Insight TV to its 4K tier of channels.

“Working with NCTC, we are offering member companies some compelling incentives to launch Insight TV and are delighted that to have MTC on board as the first NCTC member to add our channel,” Romano said in a release. “It’s a great opportunity for systems to get on board with a network that is defining a new standard in quality linear and digital video experiences for consumers. In today’s crowded market, Insight TV provides a competitive advantage for operators looking to differentiate themselves by providing their customers with content and a viewing experience they can’t get elsewhere."

“At MTC, we are always looking to offer our subscribers the highest quality content and that includes programming in 4K,” MTC general manager Glen Faulkner said in the release. “Insight TV’s original, native 4K UHD content is as beautiful as it is fascinating entertainment. We’re delighted to be able to offer this new service to our viewers.”

Sample programming via Insight TV includes Travel With a Goat, Road to Gymkhana GRiD, King of the Hammers, THRU and Breaking Limits. Insight TV is based in the Netherlands.

Sales of 4K Ultra High Definition TV sets will climb 21% during the coming year, and revenue for subscription video streaming services will jump by 24% during the same period, according to the Consumer Technology Association's mid-year update of its "U.S. Consumer Technology Sales and Forecast," published Tuesday (July 31).

The semi-annual industry-wide update puts overall consumer technology sales up 6% by the end of this year compared with 2017, significantly higher than the annual growth rate of 3.9% predicted in CTA's January forecast.

CTA's January 2018 Report: Consumer Spending on Streaming Services to Reach $19.5B

The expected home technology growth is being spurred by a strong economy, low unemployment and the tax cut, according to CTA's analysis.

CTA foresees expansion in smart home and whole-home WiFi systems, which, along with streaming video, potentially affect cable operators and programmers' activities in those sectors. The rapid acquisition of 4K TV sets will offset the continuing flat sales for traditional HDTV receivers, possibly spurring networks to accelerate UHD delivery. CTA predicted that nearly 22.5 million 4K UHD sets will be sold in 2019, compared with 18.5 million this year and 16.7 million in 2017. 

The sales pace of smart TVs will slow down: 33.8 million units last year, 35.2 million this year, 36.6 million in 2019, according to the CTA analysis. But that widespread penetration of Internet-accessible TV sets will be accompanied by continuing growth in sales of streaming media players (including sticks and set-top boxes): 17 million units last year, 18.6 million units this year and 19.7 million units next year, according to the CTA forecast.

Related Study: 74% of U.S. TV Homes Have at Least One Connected TV Device

CTA foresees consumer expenditures on streaming video services to reach $13.4 billion this year, and $16.6 billion in 2019, compared with about $4 billion in 2014.

"These services are expected to sustain healthy, double-digit growth rates for the foreseeable future as consumers explore the various content delivery platforms available to them," the report concluded. "Live TV streaming options are becoming more widely available this year, potentially attracting traditional pay-TV subscribers that have until now avoided cutting the cord for fear of losing their sports programming. With plentiful streaming options available, it is expected that viewers will continue to cut the cord to explore their ideal blend of streamed content."

Related: 'Consumer Reports' Guides Subscribers on Cord-Shaving

At the same time, home networking devices -- especially smart speakers as forerunners of the Internet of Things juggernaut -- will fly off retail (and online) shelves. And their presence will raise new competitive issues, especially as fifth-generation (5G) wireless technology is deployed.

“The new Internet of Things is the ‘Intelligence of Things’,” said Steve Koenig, CTA vice president of market research.“Connected products tap artificial intelligence to enhance services, especially in categories including smartphones, connected cars and smart home devices. And with 5G on our doorstep – the first 5G products will hit the market this year – we’re crossing into a new phase of faster and smarter connected devices.”

Rick Kowalski, CTA senior manager of market research and business intelligence, focused on the "huge shift in how people consume content." He emphasized the value of live streaming, which has "more consumers exploring their over-the-top video options." "This remarkable growth in streaming services shows us that the phrase ‘content is king’ is more relevant than ever,” Kowalski said.

CTA said it expects U.S. consumer technology revenue overall will reach $377 billion in 2018. CTA said that this year will mark the first time that whole-home WiFi products and artificial/virtual reality headsets hit the $1 billion wholesale revenue milestone.

Among the other hot categories, with expected wholesale revenue levels, are voice-controlled smart speakers ($3.2 billion) and smarthome devices such as thermostats, detectors, locks and doorbells ($4.6 billion). CTA acknowledges that "multi-year projections cannot account for unpredictable factors such as changes in tariffs, trade laws, interest rates and federal policy."

The CTA report is available for $2,000 to non-members of association.

Follows CTA/NCTA Agreement Extension

CTA's forecast came just days after the organization and NCTA – The Internet & Television Association announced a four-year extension of the "Voluntary Agreement for Ongoing Improvement to the Energy Efficiency of Small Network Equipment." They said the cross-industry initiative has improved the efficiency of home internet devices such as modems and routers by 20%.

Although the agreement is unrelated to CTA's sales forecasts, it exemplifies the co-dependency of the industries.

The Small Network Equipment (SNE) Voluntary Agreement was initially adopted in 2015 to build upon the success of a similar award-winning voluntary agreement for set-top boxes endorsed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2013. The extension of the voluntary agreement raises the bar for signatories by committing to meet new, more rigorous energy efficiency levels by 2020 that are on average 11% lower than the agreement’s current levels.

"The four-year extension of the voluntary agreement demonstrates our industry's commitment to approaches that assure our customers benefit from energy efficiency measures while maintaining our ability to develop new services and equipment which they demand,” said Neal Goldberg, NCTA’s general counsel.

Agreement signatories include the major broadband internet services providers serving 95 million U.S. households (89%of the market) -- AT&T, Cablevision, CenturyLink, Charter, Comcast, Cox Communications, Frontier and Verizon -- as well as leading device manufacturers Actiontec, ARRIS, D-Link, NETGEAR, Technicolor and Ubee Interactive.

Layer3 TV, the Denver-based MVPD, will be among a select group of pay TV providers that will offer Fox Sports’ live coverage of the 2018 World Cup tournament in 4K.  

Layer3 TV said it will make all 64 World Cup matches, starting with Thursday’s kick-off fixture between Saudi Arabia and host Russia, available in 4K, and will provide that coverage on two 4K channels.   

RELATED: World Cup 2018 Sets Stage for Video Tech Showcase  

Layer3 TV, acquired by T-Mobile in January, supports 4K on every set-top box and doesn’t charge extra for 4K content. To enjoy that content in its full, pixel-packed glory, Layer3 TV customers will also need a 4K-capable TV set. 

“The World Cup is one of those events that the entire world tunes in for, and our subscribers expect the best quality picture possible for every corner kick and goal,” Jeff Binder, executive vice president of T-Mobile Home + Entertainment, said in a statement. “Fox’s passionate soccer fans can get closer than ever to the fields this year with 4K resolution on Layer3 TV.”  

Layer3 TV began to offer live and VOD content in 4K in March 2017, and today offers channels in the format such as Insight UHD and Nasa TV UHD.  

RELATED: Layer3 TV Adds Live, On-Demand 4K Fare 

Layer3 TV currently offers a managed, in-home-focused IPTV service in markets such as Washington, D.C.; Dallas; Longmont, Colo.; Los Angeles, Calif.; and Chicago. T-Mobile is also working on a national, OTT-delivered version of the service that’s expected to launch later this year.  

RELATED: T-Mobile’s Jeff Binder: 5G Is ‘Perfect Delivery Mechanism for Video’ 

Among other U.S.-based MVPDs, DirecTV will offer live 4K HDR coverage of World Cup 2018 to customers with the right tech set-up. Dish Network will offer the games in 4K format, according to TVAnswerman.com. Comcast X1 subs with 4K-capable boxes will have access to Telemundo’s 4K coverage of the World Cup on a VOD, next-day basis.  

Ericsson used this week’s NAB Show to bow a variant of its cloud-based MediaFirst platform that supports Ultra HD and High Dynamic Range.  

The offering features and integrates Ericsson’s AVP System Encoder (supporting MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and HEV), the MediaFirst Content Processing system, and the MediaFirst Video Processing platform for VOD and live, linear TV.  

Ericsson didn’t announce any initial takers for the UHD-capable version of MediaFirst, but Bell Canada recently inked a deal with Ericsson for an upgraded TV platform that will support multiscreen video services.  

RELATED: Bell Canada Rings Up Ericsson for Upgraded TV Platform 

Bell Canada has been using Mediaroom, the IPTV platform Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in the fall of 2013. MediaFirst is a next-gen, cloud-powered IP video platform from Ericsson that covers TVs as well as web browsers, smartphones and tablets and targets MVPDs as well as OTT service providers. Other announced MediaFirst customers include J:COM, Japan's largest cable operator, and Canada's SaskTel.  

In late January, Ericsson announced that One Equity Partners would acquire a majority stake in Ericsson's Media division, which includes Mediaroom and MediaFirst.  

4K TV is not yet a mass-market phenomenon, but Fox Sports said it’s preparing for an inevitable “evolution” once the pixel-packed format is widely adopted by distribution partners and consumers.

Fox Sports, which has already produced some NASCAR races and college basketball games in 4K, is taking another step forward this fall as it moves ahead with a plan to produce one college football game per week in 4K — for a total of 13 games.

The first took place on Sept. 2, when the Maryland Terrapins visited the Texas Longhorns.

Fox Sports will distribute its full slate of college-football games in 4K with DirecTV, which has been using its satellite-TV platform to spearhead an ambitious strategy around the emerging video format.

“They’ve got the distribution, and they have the technology to move 4K from the remote [location] to the house,” Michael Davies, Fox Sports senior vice president of field and technical operations, said.

Fox is also discussing 4K distribution of those games with Layer3 TV, the Denver-based IPTV cable operator that supports 4K on all its boxes that has launched service in markets such as Washington, D.C., Los Angeles; Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Dallas/Fort Worth and Longmont, Colo., with New York on deck.

4K’s College Try
The college football slate represents Fox Sports’s most significant 4K project to date.

“This gives us a great opportunity to flex our muscles a bit with what 4K can be,” Davies said. “College football at this level is something that can be done in 4K and can be done successfully, so we’re excited about giving it a try.”

Davies said the 4K college football productions will offer some efficiencies because Fox Sports can produce the event in 4K and downconvert it for a wider audience watching the game in HD or standard definition.

“You don’t need to make too many sacrifices in terms of the production level [and] the end cost,” he said.

Additionally, these productions will take advantage of other features usually found in a standard football broadcast, such as on-screen graphics and yellow lines that mark first-down locations, but designed for 4K-level resolutions.

“The graphics look beautiful in 4K,” Davies said. “I think that puts the sheen on the whole production.”

Unlike its earlier NASCAR productions, Fox Sports won’t need to roll in a separate truck for the 4K college football productions, and it will need only one production crew to pull them off. (That wasn’t the case for 3DTV productions, which required separate crews and a different set of cameras.)

For this year’s games, Fox Sports has earmarked a 4K truck from Denver-based Mobile TV Group that also did some work with NBC to produce a handful of Notre Dame football games in the format.

“It’s got some reps under its belt,” Davies said, noting that the productions will use the guts of the 4K truck while preserving the overall workflow. “The goal is to put all of this in one truck.”

Though Fox Sports will learn some new 4K lessons this fall, it’s also drawing on some that it got from its earlier 4K productions.

“Organization is key,” Davies said. “You have to organize yourself very well to make sure you don’t run out of inputs.”

Plus, Fox Sports plans to be selective on what can be upconverted and inserted seamlessly into the 4K feed. Replays, for example, are still done in HD and upconverted for the 4K telecast.

Looking ahead, Davies said Fox Sports is “itching to get our hands on some HDR production,” referring to High Dynamic Range, an emerging technology that will make the pixels brighter and more colorful and complement the pixel density afforded by 4K.

“When we look at the evolution of the format … the Holy Grail is 4K HDR,” Davies said. “That’s what’s we’re working towards. We think there’s a lot of benefits that come from the combination of resolution and High Dynamic Range, but we’re not quite there yet.”

Also not there yet is widespread consumer adoption of 4K TVs. While the pace of 4K/UHD TV adoption is ahead of the transition from standard-definition to HD, according to the Consumer Technology Association, there’s still a lot of ground to capture.

Shipment of 4K TVs in North America are expected to more than double, from 11.7 million in 2016 to 25.9 million in 2020, according to IHS Markit.

Said Davies: “4K is an evolution. For us, this is an opportunity to work week over week in this space, and it also gives us a laboratory to experiment with different things in 4K.”

The curtain is finally raising in the U.S. for 4K/High Dynamic Range (HDR). While Hollywood has been mastering an increasing amount of programming in HDR, and Amazon, Netflix and DirecTV have been successfully delivering UHD content, we are now starting to see cable operators taking the plunge.

We knew this day would arrive. Vivicast Media launched into licensing 4K/HDR content more than four years ago, just as the dramatic 4K and 8K picture quality started to capture the industry’s attention. Key technology challenges have now been or are on the way to being successfully addressed — including the ability to compress adequate bandwidth required to deliver the signal into the home — just as HDR/UHD-ready TV sets and HDR/UHD content and delivery are finally catching up with one another.

Once 4K set-tops are more readily available, the landscape looks (literally) picture perfect.
At the same time, recent months have seen an encouraging evolution in 4K/HDR thinking by cable and IPTV operators who are beginning to trial and test 4K channels, responding to the increasingly vocal demands of subscribers.

Two forward-thinking cable systems — Marquette-Adams of Oxford, Wis., and Highlands Cable Group of Highlands, N.C. — are giving the industry a glimpse into the future of 4K/UHD. While these systems may be small in scope, they loom large for pioneering UHD and HDR into the home. As a result of their historic “proof of performance,” we are seeing an acceleration of UHD delivery to homes nationwide.

The set-top box still continues to be the largest barrier to entry for cable operators of all sizes. Although set-top manufacturers have begun in earnest to integrate the 4K chipset, we are unlikely to see these readily available in the market until later this year. Still, several of the large tier-2 operators have decided not to wait any longer and are actively pursuing either alternative STBs or have designed their own 4K compatible set-tops to meet rising subscriber demand.

Factors contributing to the inevitability of UHD in the US include:
• The sheer number of UHD TVs currently sold in the U.S. is rising. The sales rate of UHD TVs is about five times faster than the move from SD to HD, and the new technology is encouraging consumers to seek out UHD content.
• There are more dedicated 4K and HDR channels and content. Cable and IPTV operators interested in 4K channels want more than just one or two — and they are getting their wish. Vivicast media alone represents seven of the full-time 4K/UHD channels, targeting the full cross-section of core demographics.
• Viewer awareness is growing. HDR is fast transforming among consumers from a fascination to demand. Subscribers are letting operators know they want this image quality every day of the week across all of their channels. And, yes, they are willing to pay more.
• Obstacles are disappearing and the competition is increasing. Several of the larger cable companies in the U.S. are demonstrating a desire to offer 4K channels, not only because of anticipating the inevitable competition from major networks but also due to the erosion of their subscriber base from both satellite-TV and over-the-top providers such as Amazon and Netflix who have been actively offering 4K for more than a year.
The pieces of the puzzle are fitting together as television sets, delivery technology and content are converging to ready 4K/HDR for the mass market.

Stuart Smitheman is president of Vivicast Media, a Memphis-Tenn.-based content licensor to MPVDs worldwide.

SES said 30 U.S. pay TV providers are using its platform to test the delivery of 4K programming to the home after adding nine cable MSOs and IPTV providers to the mix.

Read More: Get complete coverage of #TIS17.

The latest batch of trial participants includes Alliance Communications; Cincinnati Bell; Douglas County Community Network in Washington; Hotwire; Midco; Midwest Video Solutions (MVS); Oneida Telephone Exchange; Skitter TV; and South Dakota Networks (SDN), which delivers IPTV services in partnership with 19 telcos in South Dakota.

NAB 2017: Two MVPDs Roll Out 4K with SES, Vivicast

They’re on board to test out an integrated platform that offers a package of programming from content partners that include Fashion One 4K, Travelxp 4K, 4KUNIVERSE, NASA TV UHD, Insight TV, UHD1, C4K360, Funbox 4K, Nature Relaxation 4K, as well as SES’s UHD demo channel. SES is hosting the channels using a set of satellites (SES-1, SES-3, AMC-18).

RELATED: Verizon Teams with SES on Ultra HD Trial

“Momentum continues to build as SES accelerates the delivery and commercial availability of Ultra HD services throughout North America, and we expect more cable and IPTV providers to join the trio of operators who have already launched their commercial Ultra HD services using our platform,” Steve Corda, VP of business development at SES Video, said in a statement.

Other trial participants include Marquette-Adams Communications; Highlands Cable Group; EPB Fiber Optics; Verizon Communications; Frontier Communications; Buckeye Broadband;  Service Electric Cable TV; enTouch Systems; Cable America, Golden West Telecommunications; MTC Cable; Aureon; GVTC Communications; KPU Telecommunications; Shrewsbury Community Cable; and Sjoberg’s Cable TV.

SES has been delivering 4K TV at 18 Mbps using HEVC coding. In an earlier interview, Corda reasoned that that bit rate squares with cable operators, because it allows them to fit two 4K TV signals into a 6MHz-wide channel.

RELATED: SES: 18 Mbps Is the Right Rate for 4K TV (subscription required)

Most of the cable operators that in the pilot are delivering the signals over QAM transport to set-top boxes, but some are also considering deliver over DOCSIS networks using IP multicast technology.

DirecTV, Layer3 TV, Dish Network, and Comcast are among other U.S. MVPDs that have rolled out or are testing 4K services.

XITE, a Dutch music company, said it has launched a 4K music video offering in Canada following a new distribution deal with Rogers Communications.

Rogers is offering the new 4K service from XITE on channel 987. Access is limited to Rogers 4K subs who have a NextBox that supports the video format.

RELATED: Rogers Launches Big 4K Initiative

“The launch in Canada is a great first step for XITE in North America. I am very happy with this partnership and with all of our new Canadian viewers,” Cees Honig, CEO of XITE Networks U.S.A., said in a statement.

XITE, which launched its music television channel in 2008, said it is now distributed in 15 million-plus homes in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Qatar and, most recently, in Canada.

The Ultra HD Forum, a group that sets best practices for the pixel-packed video format, said it will support more than a dozen 4K and High Dynamic Range demos at NAB 2017 in Las Vegas.

The demos, at booth N1131FP, will include “Deployable Phase A” technologies that represent current challenges, including broadcaster HDR video delivery, SDR and HDR mixing and delivering quality HDR video.

Full Coverage of NAB 2017

For a glimpse future implementations, the “Phase B” tech demos will be comprised of three stations dedicated to dynamic HDR metadata; HDR and SDR improvements; and High Frame Rate Video.

Ultra HD Forum members that are on tap for the demos include BBright, Beamr, DirecTV, Dolby, Harmonic, Huawei, LG Electronics, NeuLion, PBS, Sigma Designs, Sony and Technicolor.

“The 2017 NAB Show sees the Forum’s most ambitious initiative to date of demonstrating UHD capabilities in public. It’s been an exciting challenge to work with our active members to get so many demonstrations up and running for NAB,” Thierry Fautier, a Harmonic exec and the Forum’s recently reelected president, said in a statement. “The Phase A demonstrations show what is really operationally ready today, while our phase B demonstrations show what UHD still has in store.”

Separately, the Ultra HD Forum said it has released the 1.3 version of the UHD Forum Guidelines, which include the additions dedicated to forensic watermarking.

It said several member companies initiated the creation of those security guidelines, including ContentArmor, Irdeto, MarkAny, NexGuard, and Verimatrix. Those guidelines, the Forum added, take the MovieLabs specification for Enhanced Content Protection “to the next level”, and have been vetted or reviewed by orgs such as MovieLabs, the Digital Watermarking Alliance, and the Streaming Video Alliance.

Adding a key MVPD to its 4K test group, SES S.A. said it has secured an agreement Verizon to trial the delivery of Ultra HD channels to Fios TV subscribers.

Verizon joins a growing mix of MVPDs that are on board for UHD trials with SES, which is using its satellite-based platform to deliver several linear channels in the format.

Under the program, Verizon will receive and test content from SES’s pre-packaged UHD platform.  

Other SES UHD trial participants include Frontier Communications, include Marquette-Adams, Buckeye Broadband, Service Electric Cable TV, enTouch Systems, Cable America, Golden West Telecommunications, MTC Cable, Aureon, GVTC Communications, Highlands Cable Group, KPU Telecommunications, Service Electric, Shrewsbury Community Cable, and Sjoberg’s Cable TV.

RELATED: Frontier Joins SES 4K Trials

SES introduced its UHD solution for cable systems in April 2015, and kicked off its first trial in June 2016.

“Verizon’s network is uniquely positioned to bring its customers the most innovative content solutions, including 4K/UHD.” Erin McPherson, VP of programming & content strategy at Verizon, said in a statement.

“With more than 4.5 million video subscribers, Verizon Fios represents an exciting addition to our overall effort aimed at making Ultra HD more affordable and faster to market for TV services providers across the region,” added Steve Corda, VP of business development for SES in North America.

RELATED: SES: 18 Mbps Is the Right Rate for 4K TV (subscription required)

For the trials, SES has been delivering 4K TV at 18 Mbps using HEVC coding. In an earlier interview, Corda reasoned that that bit rate squares with cable operators, because it allows them to fit two 4K TV signals into a 6MHz-wide channel. That bit rate also enables SES to balance video quality and cost, while allowing four UHD signals to fit into a satellite transponder, and up to 16 UHD channels to be remultiplexed on a satellite receiver.

Most of the cable operators that in the pilot are delivering the signals over QAM transport to set-top boxes, but some are also considering deliver over DOCSIS networks using IP multicast technology.

Channels offered via SES’s UHD MVPD trial include Fashion One 4K (reality shows, documentaries and entertainment news about fashion); Insight (reality, entertainment and sports content aimed at millennial audiences); Travelxp 4K (a travel channel dedicated to content in 4K and High Dynamic Range); Nature Relaxation (a nature channel produced in San Diego by film maker David Huting); C4K360 (extreme sports, drone races, dance and club music); 4K Universe (mix of movies, documentaries, and live sports); Nasa TV UHD;  UHD1 (an SES-programmed channel); and SES Demo Channel (test video sequences that MVPDs can use to conduct technical assessments).

Canada’s Cogeco Connexion has introduced a TiVo-powered 4K DVR that will enable customers in Quebec and Ontario to access programming in the pixel-packed format.

Cogeco also introduced TSN 4K, a channel that provides Ultra HD coverage of live sporting events and games featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Raptors,  and Toronto FC.

The operator said more 4K channels will be added in the “coming weeks.” In the meantime, the new TiVo-based platform also provides access to Netflix and the OTT provider’s growing library of 4K content.

RELATED: Rogers Launches Big 4K Initiative

“This evolution in our offering is consistent with our ongoing commitment to better meet the changing needs of our customers, who are adopting 4K technology in ever greater numbers," Daniel Boisvert, VP, marketing and innovation at Cogeco Connexion, said in a statement. "We have always made our customers' needs our top priority and we are proud to enhance their television entertainment experience."

RELATED: Videotron Tunes in Live 4K-TV

Cogeco completed its initial rollout of a TiVo-based video platform in March 2015.

Rogers Communications and Videotron are among the other Canadian MSOs that also have trotted out 4K video offerings.

Layer3 TV, the Denver-based next-gen cable operator, said it has begun to offer some live and on-demand video in 4K, noting that all of its deployed boxes support the format.

Early on, Layer3 TV is offering on-demand access to Planet Earth II (all six episodes as they become available each week through late April), as well as the Nasa TV channel, in 4K/Ultra HD.  

Those customers, who will also require a 4K-capable TV to view content in the format, can get Layer3 TV’s 4K content for no additional fees, the company said, noting that customers on its allHD Platinum package, can access Planet Earth II on demand through April 24, and can tune in any time to the Nasa TV UHD feed on channel 350.

RELATED: Layer3 TV Goes For The Big Bundle

Layer3 TV joins a growing mix of MVPDs that offer some 4K programming and content. Among examples are DirecTV, Dish Network and Comcast, which is sampling some 4K on-demand fare via an OTT app for select smart TVs from Samsung and LG but will expand on that when it introduces a 4K-capable box for its X1 service.

Additionally, more than a dozen telcos and cable operators, including Frontier Communications and Buckeye Broadband, are testing the delivery of nine UHD channels (including Nasa’s 4K channel) to a subset of customers working in tandem with SES.

RELATED: SES Adds Cable Operators to 4K Trial Mix

U.S. consumer adoption of 4K-capable TVs has been outpacing, and will continue to outpace, the transition to HDTV sets, according to a recent study from the Consumer Technology Association.

Layer3 TV has launched its IPTV service in the Chicago and Washington, D.C., metro areas. Its web site still says that the service is “coming soon” to Layer3 TV's hometown of Denver.

RELATED: Layer3 TV: A Different Kind of Animal

“Our planet and universe provide a perfect canvas to showcase Layer3 TV’s 4K capabilities,”  Lindsay Gardner, Layer3 TV’s chief content officer, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to bring Planet Earth II and NASA TV UHD to our customers and committed to adding more 4K linear channels and 4K VOD as content becomes available.”

SES. S.A. says more than 15 cable operators are now testing its managed 4K/Ultra HD after adding a handful of additional MSOs to the mix.

The latest to ink UHD trial agreements include Aureon in Iowa, GVTC Communications in Texas, Highlands Cable Group in North Carolina, KPU Telecommunications in Alaska, Service Electric in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and Shrewsbury Community Cable in Massachusetts.

Others announced trial partners include Armstrong, Buckeye Broadband, Cable America Missouri, Entouch Systems, Golden West Cablevision, Frontier Communications, KPU Telecommunications, MTC Cable, and Marquette Adams Communications.

RELATED: Frontier Joins SES 4K Trials

A “large tier 1” is also on board for a 4K trial, according to Steve Corda, VP of business development in North America for SES.

SES is delivering nine channels (see below for more details) for the 4K trials, with a tenth to be added soon, Corda said.

SES is using its managed satellite platform to get the 4K signals to its trial participants. Most of the cable operators that in the pilot are delivering the signals over QAM transport to set-top boxes, but some are also considering deliver over DOCSIS networks using IP multicast technology.

Corda acknowledged that the bandwidth required for 4K services and the trials have been a big concern to MVPDs from the get-go, so SES has focused on getting those signals to fit within an HEVC-encoded stream of about 18 Mbps. Boxes in the consumer’s home need an HEVC decoder to capture the signal and deliver it a 4K-capable TV.

18 Mbps was a key bit-rate target, he said, because cable operators stressed that it’s important that they can fit two 4K TV signals into a 6 MHz-wide channel. On SES’s end, that bit rate also enables the company to balance video quality and cost, while also allowing four UHD signals to fit into a satellite transponder, and up to 16 UHD channels to be re-multiplexed on a satellite receiver

Though SES’s 4K platform is still in trial mode, commercial readiness is a few weeks away, Corda estimated, adding that everything has reached a “tipping point.”

“The technology has clearly matured,” he said, noting that SES is making good progress on its plan to reduce the time for a 4K platform to go from trial to commercial in a period of about two years.

SES introduced its UHD solution for cable systems in April 2015, and kicked off its first trial in June 2016. Eight U.S. cable operators were on board by November 2016.

SES’s managed 4K offering currently offers nine channels: Fashion One 4K (reality shows, documentaries and entertainment news about fashion); Insight (reality, entertainment and sports content aimed at millennial audiences); Travelxp 4K (a travel channel dedicated to content in 4K and High Dynamic Range); Nature Relaxation (a nature channel produced in San Diego by film maker David Huting); C4K360 (extreme sports, drone races, dance and club music); 4K Universe (mix of movies, documentaries, and live sports); Nasa TV UHD;  UHD1 (an SES-programmed channel); and SES Demo Channel (test video sequences that MVPDs can use to conduct technical assessments).

SES S.A. said Frontier Communications has joined a growing mix of MVPDs that have begun to test 4K/Ultra HD video services on the company’s managed distribution platform.

For the tests, SES is delivering UHD content to its partners via dedicated satellite bandwidth, holding that the approach delivers 4K fare at higher quality than content delivered in the pixel-packed format via Internet connections.

"We are optimistic that SES’s innovative, pre-packaged Ultra HD solution will allow for a smooth transition of Ultra HD delivery to Frontier subscriber homes nationwide," Steve Ward, SVP of video technology & content for Frontier, said in a statement.

Other MVPDs working with SES on 4K trials include Marquette-Adams, Buckeye Broadband, Service Electric Cable TV, enTouch Systems, Cable America, Golden West Telecommunications, MTC Cable and Sjoberg’s Cable TV. Those operators are delivering 4K into homes using either managed IP multicast DOCSIS 3.0 streams (not over-the-top/public Internet) or on traditional digital QAM transport streams.  

RELATED: SES Expands 4K Cable Trials

SES’s managed platform currently offers nine linear Ultra HD channels, with 4K Universe joining the mix late last year.

Outside of SES’s partners, a growing group of other MVPDs have launched or are testing 4K services and apps, including DirecTV/AT&T, Dish Network and Comcast.

RELATED: Dish to Offer Live Broadcast of ‘Planet Earth II’ in 4K

AT&T and Fox Sports said they’ll offer what’s being billed as the first live college basketball game to be delivered in 4K when DirecTV offers Friday night’s NCAA men’s matchup between California and Stanford in the pixel-packed format. 

That game, set to tip-off at 10 p.m. ET on Feb. 17, will be a 4K simulcast of FS1’s coverage on DirecTV channel 106. They’ll get together to do the same on March 1, when Washington’s men’s basketball team plays at UCLA.

Those games are part of a broader distribution agreement between AT&T and Fox Networks Group announced in late 106 whereby DirecTV subs will have access to select 4K content from Fox's “marquee sports properties,” including coverage of MLB regular season and playoff games, college football and basketball games and NASCAR races.

DirecTV subs who want to watch require a Genie HD DVR (model HR54 or later) and a DirecTV 4K Ready TV, or a 4K TV connected to a 4K Genie Mini. They also need to be on DirecTV’s Entertainment package, or one that includes FS1.

Looking to catch up on a feature already supported by its OTT platform rivals, Apple is testing a new Apple TV that can stream video in UHD/4K, Bloomberg reported.

Apple hasn’t announced 4K plans, but support for that format was clearly lacking when the company introduced its apps-friendly, fourth-gen Apple TV device in the fall of 2015.  Bloomberg said Apple is expected to launch its new device, codenamed “J105,” later this year.

RELATED: Apple Launches New Apple TV

Adding 4K would add an element already offered on certain Roku player models, the latest Amazon Fire TV box, the new Chromecast Ultra streaming adapter from Google, and an expanding batch of Android TV-powered devices. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a next-gen Apple TV device also try to close the gap with support for High Dynamic Range, as the Bloomberg report noted that the new product will also enable more vivid colors.

Bloomberg suggested that Apple’s recent hiring of former Amazon Fire TV exec Timothy Twerdhal also indicates that Apple is looking to up the ante on video, and that it could enable his predecessor, Pete Distad, to resurrect Apple’s troubled plans to offer a national skinny bundle OTT TV service that focuses on access to broadcast TV networks.

Research shows that Apple TV is lagging the pack. Parks Associates reported last year that Roku was the most popular brand of streaming media players, accounting for 30% of the players purchased from 1Q 2015 to 1Q 2016. Amazon and Google were tied, with 22% of sales, with Apple TV at about 20%.

The market for UHD Blu-ray Discs is in the nascent stage, and a new forecast seem to agree.

 Futuresource predicts that 8.4 million UHD Blu-ray discs will be sold this year, equating to just 4% of global Blu-ray sales.

Prices for players are becoming more palatable. Sony Electronics, for example, recently set a $300 price point for the UBP-X800 UHD Blu-ray Disc player, which will also support high dynamic range, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio. 

The firm also notes that it has yet to see “significant traction” from UHD electronic sell-through even as a broader choice of titles in that format – from independents and major studios – emerge, but said that could change if major broadcast and telcos and other types of service providers latch on and begin to support and sell the format.  A potential “game changer” could emerge if Apple launches a 4K store, Future source said.

For now, streamed SVOD movies is the most commonly accessed source of 4K content, but holds that UHD Blu-rays are poised to be the “crème de la crème” with respect to quality experience and film choice.

At the end of 2016, about 17 million households across the globe had access to streamed 4K UHD content from an SVOD service and a TV capable of playing it back, Futuresource said.

With the Monterey Peninsula course on the Northern California coast as a backdrop, AT&T is offering 4K UHD coverage of the 2017 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament on DirecTV, with 4K cameras on holes 7, 17 and 18 on the Pebble Beach course for this PGA tour event. It tees off Thursday and runs until Feb. 12, 3-6 p.m. ET daily via DirecTV's 4K channel 106.

The satellite-TV provider also has teed up the “AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Experience” showing a four-screen mix in HD.

DirecTV HD channels involved:

• 701 Mix Channel – 4 screens in one
• 702 Network Simulcast - Golf Channel (Thurs-Fri) & CBS (Sat-Sun)
• 703 Featured Group – follow a group of golfers shot-by-shot
• 704 Launch Pad – watch multi-angled coverage of the long drive
• 705 ShotLink Channel -- a data intensive look at the tournament

Per AT&T, requirements: a Genie HD DVR (model HR54 or later) and a DirecTV 4K Ready TV, or a 4K TV connected to a 4K Genie Mini. Additional and advanced receiver fees apply. SELECT Package or higher, 4K account authorization and professional installation required. More details are at directv.com/4K.

NBC Sports Group and AT&T are connecting to offer a batch of Premier League games in 4K to eligible DirecTV subscribers, starting with the Saturday (Jan. 21) match between Manchester City and Tottenham, set to kick off at 12:30 p.m. ET.

DirecTV will offer that fixture in 4K on channel 106, and follow with Sunday’s match between Arsenal and Burnley, which starts at 9:15 a.m. ET.

For the rest of the current Premier League season, NBC Sports Group plans to offer “select” Premier League matches in 4K via DirecTV. The games will also be offered via DirecTV in SD and HD on NBC and on NBCSN.

NBC Sports Group and DirecTV previously offered several of Notre Dame football games and select coverage of the Rio Olympic Games in 4K.

RELATED: DirecTV To Offer Notre Dame Football Telecasts In 4K

To get the 4K feeds, DirecTV subs need a Genie HD DVR (model HR54 or later), a DirecTV Ready TV or a 4K TV connected to a 4K Genie Mini, and must be subscribed to DirecTV’s Select package or higher.

“We’re excited to continue our commitment to provide fans with unprecedented coverage of the Premier League by offering matches in 4K this season on DIRECTV,” Jon Miller, President of Programming for NBC Sports and NBCSN, said in a statement.

“Premier League action in the stunning detail and color of 4K UHD on DIRECTV will be a pitch perfect viewing experience, whether you’re a devoted or occasional fan of the game,” added Dan York, chief content officer for AT&T.

SES S.A. said it has added 4KUniverse to its expanding Ultra HD lineup being delivered to a select batch cable operators and other TV platforms in North America.

4KUniverse, a 24/7 channel in the format, will offer a mix of documentariei, sporting events, movies and TV shows when it debuts in January on the SES-1 satellite – one of three (SES-1, SES-3, AMC-18) hosting  SES’s Ultra HD distribution platform.

4KUniverse was introduced in March.

RELATED: 4KUniverse Nets AVP Exclusive

SES its UHD platform will be home to eight linear 4K channels in January, and that it has distribution deals with more than 30 UHD channels globally.

SES has lined up several U.S. cable operators for UHD trials, including Marquette-Adams in Wisconsin; Buckeye Broadband; Service Electric Cable TV; enTouch Systems; Cable America; MTC Cable and Sjoberg’s Cable TV.

SES has said its 4K trial platform will use either managed IP multicast DOCSIS 3.0 streams (not “over-the-top”) or traditional digital QAM transport streams.

“We have been collaborating with the SES team for months, by testing with block programming on their promotional channel – all leading up to this exciting launch of our 24/7 Ultra HD channel with cable and telecom companies across the US. Our first carriage deals will be announced shortly,” Matthew Mancinelli, Founder and CEO of 4KUnivese said in a statement. 

Though the adoption of 4K video by programmers and service providers hasn’t occurred as quickly as some vendors were expecting, U.S. consumer adoption of 4K-capable TVs has been outpacing, and will continue to outpace, the transition to HDTV sets, according to the Consumer Technology Association.

RELATED: PlayStation 4 Goes ‘Pro’

CTA said Q4 shipments of 4K/Ultra HD TVs to the U.S. will hit 4.5 million units, driving total sales in the category for 2016 to 10 million, a 40% jump versus 2015. However, the CTA did acknowledge that current expected results will fall short of its earlier forecast that total unit sales for the year would reach 14.5 million.

CTA said the updated forecast reflects finalized Q2 data showing “a more gradual growth curve’ as TV makers shift to new models, "We also expected to see TV manufacturers move more quickly to a greater mix of 4K in screen sizes above 40 inches, which now appears to be shaping up as a 2017 trend," Steve Koenig, CTA's senior director, Market Research, said in a statement.

He added that the growth of the 4K market “continues to dwarf the transition to high-definition television.” To wit, cumulative sales of 4K displays are expects to reach 18.6 million units in the first three years of introduction, compared to 4.2 million for HDTVs.

The org said it expects 4K displays to account for 56% of all TV sales in Q4, and sees nearly half of total annual TV sales to be of 4K-capable sets.

RELATED: SES Expands 4K Cable Trials

Aiding consumer adoption is lower pricing, as CTA said the wholesale price of 4K TVs has dropped 22% since January.

"We've been bullish about 4K UHD since day one, and market growth continues to justify our enthusiasm," said Gary Shapiro, CTA president and CEO, in a statement, while also giving the nod to wider-spread use of High Dynamic Range and Wide Color Gamut systems.

2016, he said, has been a “banner year” for 4K, noting strong sales of other elements of the ecosystem, including the increasing introduction of 4K/UHD Blu-ray discs (much more on that part of the 4K sector will be featured in the Next TV section of the Nov. 14 issues of Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News) and 4K cameras. 

SES S.A. said four more U.S. cable operators are using its platform to test 4K/Ultra HD content delivery ahead of subscriber trials that are slated for later this year.

The latest to join the mix are Marquette-Adams in Wisconsin, Buckeye Broadband in Ohio and Southeast Michigan, Service Electric Cable TV in Pennsylvania, and enTouch Systems in Texas.

SES said the first wave of 4K trails got underway in the summer with Cable America in Missouri, Golden West Telecommunications in South Dakota, MTC Cable in New York, Sjoberg’s Cable TV in Minnesota. ATMC was also among the operators identified when SES announced its first round of 4K cable trials in July.

On the technical side, SES 4K platform will use either managed IP multicast DOCSIS 3.0 streams (not “over-the-top”) or traditional digital QAM transport streams. Its “pre-packaged” UHD platform, tailored to small- and mid-sized MSOs, includes the channels, 4K-capable set-tops and reception gear. SES said its global 4K lineup features 30 channels worldwide, including seven that are hosted on two SES satellites (SES-1, SES-3) that can serve nearly 100 million homes across North America. Fashion One 4K, NASA TV UHD, High 4K TV, and SES’s own UHD1 channel are among those being supported on the platform.

In an interview when the first round of 4K trials came to light, Steve Corda, SES’s vice president of business development in North America, said his company will initially be supplying cable MSO trial partners with IP set-tops from AirTies (the Air 7410X), though SES was also evaluating boxes from suppliers such as Entone (acquired by Amino) and Technicolor, as well as the new 4K-capable TiVo Bolt.

“We will soon be testing a great mix of 4K movies, cutting-edge TV shows, news and sporting event coverage from SES’s growing, satellite-based Ultra HD platform, with plans to deliver Ultra HD to subscriber homes on the horizon,” Brad Mefferd, chief administrative officer at Buckeye Broadband, said in a statement. “The fact that the SES solution works over existing, high-capacity DOCSIS 3.0 cable networks and traditional digital QAM will enable us to be flexible in how we distribute Ultra HD content in our markets.”

While SES’s approach is initially being targeted to tier 2/3 MSOs, several major MVPDs have launched or are testing 4K services and apps, including DirecTV/AT&T, Dish Network and Comcast. 

As was the case last year with the Roku 4, it appears that the lid is being blown on a new lineup of Roku devices before they are officially introduced to the world.

Blending a mix of FCC data uncovered by Varietyand info located via two Canadian channels, gadget blog ZatzNotFunny has learned that Roku is in the process of moving away from its traditional numbered-based product system to a more branded approach as it prepares to introduce some new capabilities and features to its streaming lineup.

On the lower end of the device spectrum, Dave Zatz surmises in this blog post that the Roku 1 will be replaced by the Roku Express (3700) and Express Plus (3710), and further speculates that the Express Plus might add on additional ports or features such as a remote that supports headphones (for private listening) and Roku’s voice-navigation.

Further up the food chain appears to be the Roku Premiere (4620) and Roku Premiere Plus (4630), with Zatz seeing them replacing what has traditionally been known as the Roku 2 and Roku 3. But, in a new twist, the 2016 versions of this class will be capable of supporting 4K video – a feature that is supported by the company’s current top-of-the-line model, the Roku 4, which was launched last fall. Zatz noted that he believes the Plus model will include support for Ethernet and a microSD and High Dynamic Range (HDR), a format the supports brighter, more colorful pixels and images.  

The new Roku Ultra appears to be the model that will grace the high-end of the lineup, supporting 4K and HDR, along with other bells and whistles such as a remote control finder, optical out, and a USB element for accessing local media, Zatz said.

Pricing on the new lineup still isn’t known, though Zatz notes that one listing shows that new products could arrive on the scene “as early as September 7” as it gears up for the important holiday buying season.

Roku hasn’t announced its new fall product lineup and declined to comment on the report, but the debut of a new class of streamers and capabilities appear to be on the horizon as Roku looks to keep an edge on competitors that include the new app-friendly Apple TV, Chromecast adapter, Amazon Fire TV, and a batch of Android TV-powered devices.

According to Parks Associates, Roku was the top-selling streaming media player in 2015, accounting for 30% of units purchased.

AT&T/DirecTV will add more live 4K sports fare to the mix heading into the weekend by delivering coverage of The World Series of Beach Volleyball in the pixel-packed format from Long Beach, Calif.

Here’s the 4K tournament coverage DirecTV has on tap (on channel 106):

-Friday, Aug. 26 from 8:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. ET: Women’s quarter finals #1 and #2

-Saturday, Aug. 27 from 3:00 p.m. -4:30 p.m. ET: Women’s semi-finals #1

-Saturday, Aug. 27 from 7:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.: Women’s semi-finals #1, and men’s semi-finals #1

-Sunday, Aug. 28 from 4:30 p.m. – 6 p.m.: Women’s finals

-Sunday, Aug. 28 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. – Men’s finals  

DirecTV, now part of AT&T, launched three dedicated 4K channels last year.

John Ward, senior VP of content operations at AT&T, used this blog post to shed more light on the company’s 4K activities and why he thinks the format helps to tell a “better story.”

DirecTV, he said, has broadcast more than 500 hours of sports in 4K, most of it live, thanks to coverage of events such as The Masters, UFC bouts, some of NBC’s coverage from the Summer Games in Rio (provided on a one-day delay), and several MLB matchups.

Ward also shared some technical factoids about 4K, noting that an hour of video in that format equals 400 to 500 gigabytes, and that the company uses a mix of fiber and satellite transmission technologies from each event to deliver video in IP with encode bit rates of up to Mbps. AT&T, he added, also deploys eight to 14 4K camas to each event, depending on its size.

 An average baseball game in 4K can soak up about 2 terabytes of storage, or about 500 GBs per hour, he said. 

As of the midway point of 2016, more than 8 million 4K Ultra HD TVs have been sold in the U.S., and second quarter sales were up 120% compared to a year ago, a good sign for a home entertainment industry looking toward 4K to boost physical and digital content sales, according to a new report from DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group.

Nearly 1.5 million 4K UHD TVs were sold during the quarter, while consumers purchased approximately 288,000 4K Blu-ray Disc copies of the 45-plus titles Hollywood studios have released on the next-gen format.

For the second quarter, home entertainment spending jumped 6% to $4.3 billion, with Blu-ray Disc sales up 35%. Sell-through of digital and physical content combined was $1.7 billion, up 4%, while digital sellthrough alone grew 9%.

Read more at B&C.

Dish Network and Comcast will be joining AT&T in offering access to NBCUniversal’s delayed 4K coverage of the Summer Olympics in Rio, albeit in different ways.

Comcast said it will make that content available on demand via its OTT-based Xfinity in UHD app for Samsung and LG smart TVs. Comcast is also working on a 4K-capable box for X1, the Xi6, which will also support high dynamic range (HDR). Dish will offer NBCU’s 4K coverage on linear channel linear channel 146 and via its VOD catalog via the Hopper 3 DVR and 4K Joey devices.

Dish will also enable the “sports bar mode” feature on Hopper 3 to view up to four channels of coverage on one screen.

For the games, Dish will also feature a sports hub, under the 2016 Rio Olympics banner, on channel 148 that provides accesstoNBCU’s coverage on NBCSN, Golf Channel, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Telemundo, NBC Universo and two linear sport-specific specialty channels.

Dish will also integrate the NBC Olympics app, which include real-time medal counts and the ability to tune to events or set up recordings,  on its family of Hopper set-tops and 4K Joey, Wireless Joey, Joey and Super Joey devices.

Sling TV, Dish’s OTT-TV service, will also carry a portion of NBCU’s coverage of the games via the recently launched Sling Blue service – Bravo and NBC (in select markets), NBC Sports Network and USA. Those who take the Sports Extra pack also have access to Rio coverage on the Golf Channel. Sling Blue’s “Best of Spanish TV” customers can watch Spanish coverage on NBC Universo.

MSNBC and CNBC are typically offered on Sling Blue with the World News Extra add-on, but, Sling Blue will provide a free preview of those nets starting August 1 through the last Olympics event featured on those channels.

SES S.A. said it has secured agreements with a handful of U.S. cable operators to trial the delivery of live, linear Ultra HD/4K channels later this year.

Operators that are on board to test SES’s managed UHD platform include Cable America in Missouri, Golden West Telecommunications in South Dakota, MTC Cable in New York, Sjoberg’s Cable TV in Minnesota, and ATMC in North Carolina.

SES said those operators will trial the delivery of 4K using managed IP multicast DOCSIS 3.0 streams, rather than over-the-top on public Internet connections.  

To prepare for the tests, SES is shipping 4K-capable IP set-tops equipped with HEVC/H.265, a new video codec that is 50% more bandwidth efficient than H.264/MPEG-4.

Steve Corda, SES’s vice president of business development in North America, said it will initially be supplying cable MSO trial partners with IP set-tops from AirTies (the Air 7410X), though SES has also been evaluating boxes from suppliers such as Entone (acquired last year by Amino) and Technicolor, as well as the new 4K-capable TiVo Bolt.

Corda said the participating operators are looking to trial 4K/UHD in several ways, including demos at their local offices as well as broader tests that will be advertised to subscribers with 4K-capable TVs. He noted that, in addition to IP deliver, some cable operators are also looking to test 4K using more traditional QAM transport streams.

As for content, SES is currently carrying four Ultra HD channels on satellites that, it says, reaches nearly 100 million homes across North America -- Fashion One 4K, NASA TV UHD, High 4K TV, and SES’s own UHD1 channel.

“As millions of cable subscribers increasingly press for 4K content on their new Ultra HD TVs, some of the smallest cable operators in the US are now leading the way to bringing Ultra HD to homes across the country,” Corda said, in a statement.

SES’s test partners are among a small but growing list of U.S. MVPDs to test or launch 4K. For example, DirecTV haslaunched a set of 4K channels, and Dish Network introduced the 4K-capable Hopper 3 earlier this year. Comcast offers a 4K OTT app on Samsung TVs, but is working on the Xi6, a set-top that supports both 4K and High Dynamic Range.

Ninety-six percent of pay TV and OTT operators see a majority of both consumers and video service providers adopting 4K Ultra High-Def (UHD) by 2020, and a vast majority of service providers also believe consumers will pay a premium for content delivered in 4K.

That’s according to a new survey from digital content security company Irdeto and research firm SNL Kagan, which asked nearly 500 video service providers and content producers about their 4K industry forecasts.

The results saw 64% of video service providers and 73% of content producers saying consumers would be willing to pay up to 30% more to subscribe to 4K UHD content. Nearly 90% said they will offer 4K UHD content by 2020, with 78% saying they’ll have 4K content ready by 2018. Nearly two thirds of respondents said live sports will be the No. 1 driver of 4K content for consumers.

Read more at B&C.

As consumer purchases of 4K-capable TVs have grown – and with true Ultra HD Premium models coming to market shortly – Strategic Analytics has predicted that almost half of all U.S. homes will have UHD TVs by 2020. It’s clear that the pent-up consumer demand for UHD premium video services is growing.

Smart content providers such as Bell Media, BT, Comcast, DIRECTV, Etisalat, Rogers, Sky, and Swisscom are seizing this opportunity by launching large-scale live sports content in UHD quality to their subscribers. But these are initial efforts in the start-up phase; for UHD premium video to fully realize its market and profit potential, the content distribution industry needs to implement an end-to-end UHD TV premium technology ecosystem. Such an ecosystem would not only encompass the specific playout, delivery, and viewing elements of UHD premium, but also the security measures required to keep this content secure, and operator revenues protected from a new range of threats.     

“Ultra HD is a technology that will revolutionize the world of video,” said Thierry Fautier, Ultra HD Forum President/Chair and Harmonic’s VP of Video Strategy, in an online chat recently, with CTOi Consulting’s Ben Schwarz. “Making UHD requires a complete rethinking of the workflow, from video capture to production to the presentation.”     

There are two main technological ecosystems in play for UHD premium content distribution, one for real time (live broadcast) and the other for non-real time (video on demand/episodic content). Implicit in both architectures is the requirement for security elements to protect the signal path from hacking, so that the content going from end-to-end is not intercepted and exploited by pirates.

Of course, these are idealized views of UHD premium TV delivery. The challenge facing UHD premium TV distributors is to select and implement specific UHD technological ecosystems using actual software/hardware platforms. “Harmonic, [and] a group of 40 other companies, have created the Ultra HD Forum to take care of the complete UHD chain from end-to-end, including OTT, QoS, Push-VoD, nVOD, adaptive streaming, live, and on-demand,” says Fautier, indicating in a recent blog that there are definitely a lot of smart people working on solutions.

Part of the picture that emerges is the need for a security solution that integrates seamlessly with the other components of a UHD ecosystem, such as VCAS (Verimatrix Video Content Authority) Ultra. Built upon the three pillars of hardware-based security, trusted software security, and digital watermarking, VCAS Ultra provides content distributors with a UHD revenue security solution that addresses the vulnerabilities inherent in the system, plus the ability to authoritatively identify the source of pirated content when it does appear.

Three Pillars of UHD Security

Verimatrix has taken this a step further through its focus on the whole ecosystem rather than individual components in isolation. For example, we recently unveiled our Ultra Security certification program, which enables components, including set-top boxes in UHD ecosystems, to meet the strongest security requirements specified by premium rights holders and, in particular, the MovieLabs’ Specifications for Next Generation Video and Enhanced Content Protection. In turn, the program will give pay-TV operators the assurance that consumer devices they select for UHD really are compliant with the guidelines that have emerged in response to the concerns of major rights holders.

If any of the three pillars of security are compromised, the program will protect the entire system from being successfully hacked. Ultra Security combines the resistance to attack enabled by hardware with the flexibility and upgradeability of software, so that the whole system can be updated as required to accommodate changes in both the industry and security requirements for different types of premium content.

The bottom line: A UHD technology ecosystem is only as strong as the integration of the different infrastructure components. Active participation of both SoC and device makers is critical for ensuring the three pillars of the UHD security model, and has emerged as the gold standard that actually delivers the expected level of protection.  

To learn more, please download theMultichannel Newsebook, “Protecting the Ultra HD Premium TV ‘Golden Goose’”

Additional Resources

The Future of Revenue Security for Ultra HD Video
This is a detailed look at the three pillars (hardware-based security, trusted software security, and digital watermarking) of effective UHD content security. It explores how the three pillars work together to deter hacking, and identify those hackers who succeed in pirating content quickly and reliably.

Verimatrix VCAS Ultra – The Future of Pay TV Revenue Security
This video explains the thinking behind Verimatrix’s VCAS Ultra UHD protection suite, and how it enables content providers to protect and monetize their UHD premium services.

Perfect Storm of OTT and UHD Raises Bar for Pay TV Security
This Verimatrix blog examines the various issues associated with successful UHD content provision. Topics explored include trends in UHD feature development, UHD chipset security certification and why it matters, and OTT/UHD content protection on the pirate-prone Web.

Integrated Watermarking Creates More Profitable Pay-TV Businesses
This document explains how integrating watermarking ‘invisibly’ into digital content makes it far easier to identify pirated material, where it was pirated from, and who likely pirated it; making watermarking a useful tool for investigators.

Following on hints dropped earlier this month, SeaChange International has issued a new release of its multiscreen video “Adrenalin” backoffice platform that adds support for 4K/Ultra HD content, binge-watching models, and a “geographic failover” element.

SeaChange said initial deployments of the latest Adrenalin is underway with “several large video service providers,” include those that are converting from the vendor’s previous-gen Axiom VOD systems.

On the binge-watching front, Adrenalin has added bookmarking and entitlements, which lets viewers pause a series on a mobile device and resume it in at the same fram on a set-top box, or share a TV series with family members using other devices.

To get a handle on video headends and networks that can be impacted by power failures and other disaster recovery events, Adrenalin can also be backed-up in a separate geographic location. SeaChange said this assures a complete multiscreen service function failover and resumption within 15 to 30 minutes, and is key for service providers that centralize their back office operations for multiple geographies.

"Using Adrenalin for centralized video operations, our service provider customers are expanding their offerings, adding content, and enabling rich user experiences seamlessly across networks and devices," said Paul Crann, SVP of product management, in a statement. "Adrenalin's latest features help our customers quickly deploy new services to stay ahead of consumer's shifting habits and capture incremental revenue opportunities with a highly scalable and unified video delivery back office."

DirecTV is providing partial coverage of the U.S. Open golf championships in 4K resolutiong, offering live broadcasts during all four rounds from the tournament in Oakmont, which gets underway today.

DirecTV, acquired by AT&T last summer, said it is providing 4K coverage of this week’s event from holes 3, 13 and 17.

DirecTV subs with the proper set up can tune into that 4K coverage on channel 106. To get it, those customers need the provider’s latest Genie HD DVR (model HR54), a DirecTV 4K-ready TV or a compatible 4K TV (HDMI 2.0-complaint interface and HDCP 2.2 content security) connected to DirecTV’s latest 4K-capable Genie Mini device, and subscribe to DirecTV’s Ultimate or Premier TV package.

AT&T’s U.S. Open offering in 4K follows similar sporting events coverage in the format that DirecTV provided during the AT&T Byron Nelson tournament, The Masters, and coverage of several Major League Baseball games.

In April, DirecTV launched three channels dedicated to 4K.

Confirming rumors that have been swirling for months, a top exec at Sony toldThe Financial Times that the CE giant is developing a “high-end” version of the PlayStation 4 that will support games and video in 4K resolution. 

Notably, Sony doesn’t plan to trot out the new device, codenamed “Neo,” at next week’s E3 show, but House said the new product will carry a heavier price tag than the current-gen PS4, which recently surpassed 40 million units sold worldwide.

"It is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4," House told the publication, adding that Sony “will be selling both [versions of the console] through the life cycle."

Both the current-gen and Neo versions of PS4 will support the PlayStation VR headset, which will arrive in October and start at $399.

Sony has not announced any 4K content partners for the Neo console. However, Netflix and Amazon Video are examples of streaming apps that already offer libraries of 4K titles. It’s not yet known if PlayStation Vue, Sony’s OTT-TV service, will use Neo as an opportunity to add 4K content to its programming mix. 

NBC Olympics said it will provide select coverage of the Rio Olympics in the eye-popping 4K format to its various cable, satellite TV and telco TV distribution partners.

NBC Olympics, a unit of NBC Sports Group, said that coverage, provided on a one-day delay, will include 4K/Ultra HD footage from the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as coverage of several events, including swimming, track and field, basketball, the men’s soccer final, judo, with some “Rio scenic” mixed in.

One event from the previous day’s competition will be provided daily from August 6, the day following the opening ceremony, through August 22, the day after the Rio Games conclude.

NBC’s 4K coverage of the summer games will raise the bar on what it provided during the 2014 Sochi Winter games. Corporate cousin Comcast, for example, held several viewing parties to demonstrate 4K using clips from the games provided by NBC Sports.

Notably, NBC Olympics said its 4K UHD coverage of the opening ceremony in Rio will also support High Dynamic Range (HDR), providing richer, brighter pixels, as well as Dolby Atmos, an immersive three-dimensional audio platform.

NBC Olympics said it will distribute the 4K UHD coverage provided by Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) and Japan’s NHK to U.S. distribution partners, who will individually choose how they will make the content available to their customers.

Among U.S. MVPDs, Comcast has already announced that it will start to ship the Xi5, its first HDR-capable box, on July 4, ensuring it will be available in time for the Rio games. The Xi6, which will also support 4K, is also in the works. DirecTV, now owned by AT&T, recently launched three 4K channels, including one dedicated to live events shot in the format. Dish Network began to distribute its new 4K-capable Hopper 3 DVR in February.  TiVo, meanwhile, is working on a 4K-HDR platform that is optimized for its MVPD partners.

The Olympics have been a consistent driver of technological advancements, and Rio will be no different,” Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, said in a statement. The stunning backdrop of Rio combined with the world-class competition of the Olympics will give the American audience a spectacular early look at this impressive new technology.”

“Since the London Games, OBS and NHK have been working together, experimenting on the future standard of 8K,” added Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of OBS. “Substantial recent technological advancements have allowed us to pursue this opportunity further for the Rio Games and to offer a 4K feed for a number of sports, down-converted from the original 8K, to NBC and other interested Rights Holding Broadcasters around the globe.”

According to a fresh forecast from Strategy Analytics, more than 11 million homes in North America will own an 4K/Ultra HD TV by the end of 2016.

For more details about the initiative, including the top tech challenges posed by it, please see Chris Tribbey’s expanded coverage at B&C. 

More than 11 million homes in North America will own an 4K/Ultra HD TV by the end of 2016 amid falling prices and as 1080p sets continue to fade from the marketplace, Strategy Analytics said in a forecast released this week.

Under the current rate of growth, one in eight homes in the region will have a UHD TV, the research firm said.

Looking further ahead, Strategy Analytics expects all 40-inch or larger TVs sold in North America to be of the UHD variety, setting the stage for nearly one in every two homes in the region to have one.

"2160p resolution has almost become a given in the large screen TV market and attention is now turning to other attributes that fall under the Ultra HD umbrella such as high dynamic range, wide color gamut and high frame rates,” David Watkins, director of Strategy Analytics’ Connected Home Devices unit, said in a statement. “A high proportion of mid to high-end Ultra HD TVs sold this year will support HDR which in combination with higher resolution and enhanced color representation will deliver a significant step change improvement to the TV viewing experience beyond resolution alone."

"The uptake of Ultra HD bears many of the same hallmarks as the early days of ‘basic’ HD in that TV manufacturers have been very quick to seed the market with the necessary displays but there is very little in the way of content in order to take advantage of the full potential of the technology,” added Chirag Upadhyay, an analyst with the firm’s Connected Home Devices division.

While OTT services like Amazon and Netflix are early to the game with 4K content, MVPDs such as AT&T/DirecTV, Rogers Communications and Videotron have been getting into the act.

Comcast offers a small selection of 4K content through an app for Samsung smart TVs. While 4K will be part of Comcast’s mix going forward, the operator is placing more emphasis on HDR content that can be supported on both 4K and HD TVs. The Xi5, Comcast’s first box with HDR capabilities, is slated to start shipping on July 4. The Xi6, a device that supports both HDR and 4K, is also in development.

“When we evaluated this -- while there's hyper-attention on 4K, when we look at the total video experience, we think 4K is part of the offering. But HDR, which is not necessarily getting the same amount of attention, is in many ways more immersive and, we think, impactful. Matt Strauss, Comcast Cable’s executive vice president and general manager, video services, said in a recent interview.

Universal  Electronics, a maker of universal control and smart home technologies and products, said its full line of HDMI cables has been certified by the Premium HDMI Cable Certification Program.

Certification ensures that consumers using Universal Electronics’ HDMI cables to connect the latest 4K/UltraHD equipment can enjoy the full potential and feature-rich content of the new pixel-packed format, the company said.

The program tests HDMI cables to ensure that they can reliably support the full 18 Gbps bandwidth and delivery of features enabled by the most recent HDMI specification including advanced video formats such as 4K@60Hz, wide color gamut and High Dynamic Range (HDR).

“The launch of Universal Electronics’ new Premium High Speed HDMI Cables ensures its cables are ready for today’s new 4K/UltraHD products and content, and installations will be future-proof for when customers add new upgraded products,” Brad Bramy, HDMI Licensing, LLC marketing director, said in a statement.

Universal Electronics a supplier to a range of video service providers said the certified  HDMI cables are also available direct to consumers through the company’s e-commerce site, TVGear.com.

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Arris (booth 1214) will be teeing up virtual reality and IP video demos at next week’s INTX confab in Boston that will be running of the company’s growing family of DOCSIS 3.1 modems and E6000 Converged Cable Access Platform. 

The VR demo will feature content from a NASCAR track and inside the Arris Racing team garage and the use of three, separate screens showing videos being downloaded and viewed simultaneously.  Arris aid the demo will show how multi-gigabit technology can “deliver a consumer-ready VR experience in under a minute.”

On the IPTV front, Arris said it will show how its networking technology can support six, simultaneous HD video streams on a single Ultra HD screen – with one primary channel and five others in smaller playing windows, noting that running six of these  HD streams into a single video device on a TV would typically require in the range of 26 Mbps to 72 Mbps.

4KUNIVERSE, an SVOD “channel” from film and TV distribution company Mance Media that features content in the pixel-packed format, said its first original series, Model Turned Superstar, will debut on June 28.

The show, billed as an international reality series, will challenge over 100 models to become “the next superstar model.  A series of photo shoots and runway challenges will determine which of the top 13 will emerge as the winner of the show’s $1 million grand prize.

The series, comprised of 18, 30-minute episodes filmed in areas such as Bora Bora, Thailand, Mexico, Dubai, the Bahamas and Hong Kong, is hosted by fitness expert April Scott along with guest judges Alessandra Ambrosio, Irina Shayk, and Ana Beatriz Barros. One episode will be released every week on Tuesdays on 4KUNIVERSE.

Andy Khawaja executive produced the series, with Rudy Dekermenjian and Matthew Mancinelli serving as producers. Mance Media is the series’ global distributor.

Mance Media introduced 4KUNIVERSE in March. The multiplatform channel, which costs $5.99 per month, is initially available over-the-top via YouTube and Vimeo, though the aim is to also seek carriage deals with cable operators, IPTV providers and other types of MVPDs.

Mance Media has not announced any MVPD deals for 4KUNIVERSE, but it wasone of the content partners identified by Dish Network for an initial slate of 4K VOD fare for its new Hopper 3 DVR and 4K Joey device.

After a couple of swings and misses, DirecTV says it’s ready to connect on its plan to broadcast tonight’s New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox matchup in 4K.

In partnership with MLB Network, the game from Fenway Park is set to start at 7 p.m., and will be offered in the 4K format to eligible subscribers on DirecTV channel 106.

The decision to go forward with tonight’s 4K broadcast comes after some recent set-backs.

Last week’s 4K broadcast of the Cubs-Cardinals game was relegated to an internal test, which followed a decision to postpone DirecTV’s first scheduled 4K MLB broadcast on April 15 between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers due to a “technical issue” with a third party’s field production truck.  

DirecTV, which recently  launched of three channels dedicated to 4K, originally planned to offer  25 MLB games in 4K during the regular season. The current 4K MLB broadcast schedule has eight games listed.

To get 4K, DirecTV subs need a Genie HD DVR (model HR54) or later and a 4K Genie Mini if they do not own a “DirecTV Ready” 4K TV. They’ll also need to pay for a professional install, which runs $50, and must be on the satellite TV provider’s Ultimate or Premiere package.

DirecTV subs who are itching to watch a Major League Baseball game in all of its 4K glory will have to wait a bit longer.

“To ensure the delivery of the best possible 4K Ultra HD signal for future live broadcasts, DIRECTV and MLB Network will conduct an internal test of the signal during tonight’s Cubs vs. Cardinals game,” AT&T, which acquired DirecTV last summer, said in a statement. “The game will be available to customers in HD, but not in 4K.  Moving forward, we are committed to delivering the best experience for our customers.”

The decision to run the internal test, rather than offer the 4K feed to DirecTV customers who have the capability to view it, comes after the satellite TV giant postponed its first scheduled 4K MLB broadcast last Friday (April 15) between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers due to a “technical issue” with a third party’s field production truck.  

DirecTV, acquired by AT&T last July, was originally scheduled to show the April 15 matchup between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and was to be the first of 25 MLB games to be shown in the format during the regular season. 

The decision to conduct an internal test of tonight's game in UHD is a a setback for DirecTV’s ambitious 4K initiative, which includes the recent  launch of three channels dedicated to 4K and an announced plan to offer25 MLB games to be shown in the pixel-packed format during the regular season. 

DirecTV’s next scheduled 4K MLB broadcast is the April 29 matchup between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

To get 4K, DirecTV subs need a Genie HD DVR (model HR54) or later and a 4K Genie Mini if they do not own a “DirecTV Ready” 4K TV. They’ll also need to pay for a professional install, which runs $50, and must be on the satellite TV provider’s Ultimate or Premiere package.

Stunning color. Leaves rustling in the wind. An image so clear that you can see the dimples on the ball. That was the Masters in 4K, the first U.S. broadcast of content in Ultra High Definition (UHD).

Working in conjunction with CBS, DirecTV’s 4K broadcast was available on their new 4K channel or through the Internet via an app on supported Smart TVs. For DirecTV customers, all that was needed was the latest Genie HD DVR set-top box, a subscription to the Ultimate or Premier channel package, and some popcorn. If you weren’t a DirecTV subscriber but had a supporting 4K TV (Samsung or Sony), you could install the app and watch all the 4K glory of the Amen Corner…so long as you had a 25mbps or greater downstream connection.

What was more phenomenal than the picture, though, is how the production crew brought the ultra high-definition feed to end-consumers. It didn’t require re-inventing workflows. It didn’t require new ways to accomplish broadcast tasks. CBS and DirecTV required two things—new equipment and more bandwidth.

When it comes to broadcasting a live feed, there’s a lot of equipment involved - cameras,  routers, encoders. For traditional HD and SD delivery, this equipment is baked. The standards are well established both for production and consumption. But for 4K? Not so much. Not only did CBS need new cameras, they needed a truck that could handle the increased resolution provided by those cameras. In fact, it was four times as much—cabling, throughput, and bandwidth.

To tackle this challenge, CBS and DirecTV worked with Mobile TV Group out of Denver, Colo.  Their broadcast truck, Flex 39, featured twelve Sony HDC4300L 2/3 inch 4K Ultra High-Definition super slo-mo cameras with High Dynamic Range and 4K lenses. Not only was the truck outfitted with all the required 4K-compliant equipment from the broadcast ecosystem (routers, cables, etc.), it was, more importantly, integrated by the Mobile TV Group team so that it worked seamlessly together.

“That’s the real challenge here,” says Nick Garvin, Director of Business Development at the Mobile TV Group, “making it all work together. Every piece of 4K gear touches every other piece of gear in the market. But they don’t all speak to one another. Our job was to orchestrate it all to work together, to package it into a new standard for 4K delivery.”

Making it all work together included integrating with DirecTV’s 4K end-to-end delivery workflow (the only broadcaster to really have one). With an on-truck encoder, DirecTV took the final, uncompressed signal, and encoded it for distribution to their set-top boxes via satellite uplink  and over the Internet via dedicated fiber.

In many ways, the complexity of broadcasting in 4K was simplified by the Flex 39 truck. What might have been a Herculean task of provisioning, integrating, and ultimately operating a host of new 4K equipment became just “plug-and-play” assisted by a few dedicated Mobile TV Group engineers whose sole job was to keep everything running smoothly. And what made the truck more valuable was that it was multipurpose, capable of handling and delivering UHD, HD, and SD feeds.

But it wasn’t just new equipment that CBS and DirecTV needed. The 4K feed required significant bandwidth both for the linear, satellite broadcast as well as the Internet transmissions. Thankfully, as a satellite broadcaster, DirecTV had the former handled. In fact, they had deployed a new satellite in 2014 just to facilitate the delivery of 4K content. For Internet streaming, the DirecTV encoder on the Flex 39 truck had a dedicated fiber link that was sending the compressed, encoded content back to a control center where it could be distributed to CDNs for delivery.

Despite the relative ease at which CBS and DirecTV implemented a 4K broadcast using an out-of-the-box solution, what does this kind of event signify for consumers? Will more and more events “go 4K” over the coming months until everything is broadcast in UHD?

Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to that question. Sure, it’s clear that more consumers will have smart, 4K-ready TVs. In fact, according to research firm Strategy Analytics, 50% of U.S. homes will have one by 2020. But consumers will need other 4K-compliant hardware—HDMI 2.0 cables, HEVC enabled set-top boxes, HDCP 2.2 receivers – just to name a few. They will need to upgrade their entire video ecosystem just to watch 4K.

And what about bandwidth? It’s probably safe to say that very few events will be broadcast in 4K, even if trucks like those provided by Mobile TV Group are used, because very few consumers will have upgraded set-top boxes. As such, it will be much easier for broadcasters to distribute UHD content over the Internet.

Unfortunately, according to the Pew Research Center, there’s an unsettling trend—consumers are swapping out fixed-line broadband for mobile broadband. Overall, about 67% of U.S. homes have broadband connectivity, down from 70% in 2013 while those that connect to the Net using only smartphones was at 13% in 2015, up from 8% in 2013. Which is a problem, considering that Internet speeds of 15 Mbps or higher is a threshold many consider the minimum necessary to effectively stream 4K video (although DirecTV was requiring 25 Mbps for Internet delivery of the Masters) and current mobile broadband speeds, at least in the U.S., are far from that number.

Still, this event was a watershed moment for U.S. broadcasting—the first delivery of 4K content delivered simultaneously to televisions and over the Internet. CBS and DirecTV showed that it can be done. You can bet that other broadcasters took notice. But was it a 4K tipping point or just a demonstration of a future some years away? The ball isn’t rolling downhill just yet.

People are going to need the TVs and other equipment to watch 4K content, along with the necessary bandwidth.  More broadcasters are either going to have to undertake the arduous task of upgrading their existing trucks to support 4K or use “trucks-as-a-service” providers like the Mobile TV Group.

So while we aren’t at a tipping point just yet, we are getting closer. It’s just a matter of time. With events like The Masters, providers like Vudu and Netflix, and broadcasters like DirecTV all pushing 4K content, there’s no doubt that we are inching closer to a future of UHD that, although some distance off in the horizon –perhaps 10 years or so, in my opinion—is none-the-less clearly there.

Jason Thibeault is a Senior Director, Content Marketing atLimelight Networks, a leading global delivery network and founding member of the Streaming Video Alliance. 

AT&T is following up its partial coverage of the Masters golf tournament in 4K with plans to offer 25 Major League Baseball games in the pixel-packed format, starting with Friday’s matchup between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

That game, to be called by MLB Network's Bob Costas, Harold Reynold, Tom Verducci and Sam Ryan, will mark the first live 4K telecast of a MLB game in the U.S., said AT&T, which acquired DirecTV last July.

North of the border, Canadian MSOs Rogers Communications is offering all 81 home games of the Toronto Blue Jays in the format on Sportsnet, one element of a grander 4K initiative. 

AT&T said Friday’s game will be the first in a string of “MLB Network Showcase” games offered in 4K/Ultra HD.  Others on tap for April include the Chicago Cubs at St. Louis Cardinals (April 19); and the New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox tilts on April 29 and April 30. The 4K feeds of those games will be delivered on channel 106. 

Those 4K games also come on the heels of DirecTV’s launch of three channels dedicated to 4K.  To access them, DirecTV subs will need a Genie HD DVR (model HR54) or later and a 4K Genie Mini if they do not own a “DirecTV Ready” 4K TV. They’ll also need to spring for a professional install, which runs $50, and must be on the provider’s Ultimate or Premiere package.

DirecTV’s foray into live 4K will tee off tomorrow with partial coverage of the Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, but details surfaced online show that the satellite TV giant has a bit more in store when it comes to Ultra HD.

Per an FAQ about DirecTV’s 4K efforts, spotted by TV Predictions, DirecTV will start off with three channels dedicated to the pixel-packed format:

-Channel 104: a full-time channel with mix of 4K fare, including nature documentaries and original content from the DirecTV/AT&T Audience Network.

-Channel 105: a full-time pay-per-view movie channel with full-length features and short-form documentaries.

-Channel 106: An event channel with free 4K live events, including this week’s Master’s coverage, as well as pay-per-view events.

What’s not as clear is if all three are launching this week. AT&T has been asked to confirm the launch timing. But DirecTV has previously announced details around the 4K Masters coverage. It will offer all four rounds of tournament play (April 7-10, from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET) in the new format but limit 4K coverage to “Amen Corner” – Augusta’s 11th, 12th and 13th holes.

Update: DirecTV's new 4K Ultra HD channels will go live April 7 to qualified subscribers (see below for more on that). 

The FAQ also provides a bit more detail on the technical requirements and financial commitment needed by subs who want to open that 4K spigot.

On the device side, they’ll need a Genie HD DVR (model HR54) or later and a 4K Genie Mini if they do not own a “DirecTV Ready” 4K TV. They’ll also need to spring for a professional install, which runs $50, and must be on the provider’s Ultimate or Premiere package.

Also of note: subscribers can view only one 4K channel or VOD program in the format at once; however, they can playback a program recorded from a 4K channel while recording another, and can watch a recorded 4K VOD title on a second 4K TV at the same time.

Outside the 4K sphere, AT&T also said DirecTV and U-verse TV will offer three extra feeds of golf tournament coverage via the “Masters Experience” – a mosaic channel that will also feature a running leaderboard of live tee times, scoring, and leaders’ locations on the course. 

NeuLion,  the live and on-demand video streaming specialist, said it’s teaming with MediaPro to deliver a live 4K stream of the April 2 La Liga matchup between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, a fixture between rival clubs that's also known as “El Clasico.”

The game, set for Saturday at Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, will be available over-the-top via NeuLion’s Digital Platform to Sony 4K HDR Ultra HDs that have integrated the vendor’s 4K Streaming SDK.

The live event, produced by Mediapro and Overon, is being streamed in advance of the launch of a new Overon 4K app that will be made available for select 4K devices in the coming months, they said.

“Streaming the ‘Classico’ soccer match live in 4K for the first time, is a new milestone, in a series of firsts that NeuLion has achieved, as we lead the momentum in the end-to-end delivery of live 4K sports to internet connected devices," said Dr. Kanaan Jemili, CEO of NeuLion, in a statement. "We are very excited to have the opportunity to partner with Mediapro and Overon.  Together and over the coming months, we expect to continue to deliver great compelling experiences to sports fans.”

NeuLion has been involved in four live 4K events in the last year, the last being with Univision and Sony for the February 10 friendly between Mexico’s National Team and Senegal at Marlins Park Stadium in Miami.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) and Sony Electronics will launch their new 4K streaming service — dubbed Ultra — on April 4, offering Ultra High-Def (UHD) films for download for $30 each.

Announced at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Ultra will be available initially on Sony 4K Ultra HD TVs with Android TV, with SPHE bundling in four movies for consumers who buy a new Sony UHD set this summer.

Ultra will also be compatible with UltraViolet, Hollywood’s buy once, play anywhere content cloud service, backed by Sony and four of the other major studios. Ultra films will also include digital extras, similar to those found with DVD and Blu-ray Discs, and will be enabled with high-dynamic range (HDR).

Read more at B&C. 

Insignia, the in-house Best Buy CE brand, has introduced a set of 4K-capable LED TV models that integrate the Roku OTT/apps platform starting at $399.

Pricing and dimensions for the first three UHD Roku TVs from Insignia, available at BestBuy.com starting today and hitting Best Buy stores nationwide in early April, for the U.S. are as follows:

- 43-inch 4K Insignia Roku TV: $399

- 50-inch 4K Insignia  Roku TV: $499.99

- 55-inch 4K Insignia Roku TV: $649.99

All three feature the new Roku OS and access to 3,000 streaming channels in the U.S., including more than 10 that offer content in the 4K format, including Netflix, PLEX, YouTube, and UltraFlix.

The new Roku-powered Insignia TVs for sale in the U.S. feature a quad-core processor and 802.11ac dual-band WiFi, and comply with the Consumer Technology Association certification requirements to bear the organization’s 4K Ultra HD Connected label.

The TVs can be controlled with the included remote or via Roku’s mobile app for iOS and  Android devices.

Insignia and Roku said they will also offer 43-inch and 50-inch 4K TV models at Best Buy stores in Canada and at BestBuy.ca.

In January, Roku said TCL planned to introduce 4K-capable Roku TV models in the U.S. this spring, and that it was introducing a Roku TV reference design that incorporates support for high dynamic range (HDR). Other Roku TV partners include Haier America, Sharp, and Hisense.  LG Electronics sold two "entry level" Roku TV HDTV models during at Best Buy during the 2015 holiday season. 

Of that group, TCL said last October that it expected to ship its 1 millionth Roku TV by the end of 2015.

Roku launched its first 4K-capable streaming player, the Roku 4, last fall.

Following its initial VOD-focused foray into the world of 4K, DirecTV is gearing up to deliver live 4K broadcasts during next month’s Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club.

AT&T, which acquired DirecTV last July, said it will offer all four rounds of tournament play (April 7-10, from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET) in the pixel-packed format, but will limit 4K coverage to “Amen Corner,” the common reference to Augusta National’s 11th, 12th and 13th holes.

The live 4K broadcast will be offered to DirecTV subscribers with UHD TVs (supporting a minimum of 60 frames per second) who take the pay TV provider’s Ultimate or Premier package with an authorized 4K customer account. They’ll also need a new Genie HD box (HR54 model), or a DirecTV 4K-ready TV or a compatible 4K TV (HDMI 2.0-complaint interface and HDCP 2.2 content security) connected to DirecTV’s latest 4K-capable Genie Mini device.  DirecTV introduced the 4K Genie Mini in August 2015. 

Coverage of the Masters tournament in the new format, which supports about four times the pixels as an HDTV signal, comes amid anticipated debut of a new DirecTV 4K channel in April that will include UHD/4K fare from its Audience Network, documentaries and other content. 

DirecTV booted up its 4K activity in November 2014 when it introduced a limited library of VOD content in Ultra HD.

Among other U.S. MVPDs, Comcast offers a 4K streaming app for Samsung TVs, and is developing 4K-capable boxes for its X1 platform that will support High Dynamic Range (HDR). Dish Network’s recently launched Hopper 3 DVR supports 4K.

DirecTV is the latest MVPD to use the Masters to showcase an emerging TV technology. In 2010, Comcast distributed a portion of the 2010 event that was produced in 3D.

Mance Media, a film and TV distribution company based in Los Angeles, has launched 4KUNIVERSE, a multiplatform Ultra HD channel that is initially available over-the-top and one that will also seek carriage deals with cable operators, IPTV providers and other types of MVPDs.

The 4K offering, billed as a “general entertainment” UHD channel, is getting off the ground with support of two global satellite operators – SES and AsiaSat.

4KUNIVERSE is currently offered for $5.99 per month (or the local currency equivalent) via YouTube and Vimeo. In addition to North America, the channel will also be available to other regions of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Taiwan and Brazil. 4KUNIVERSE will make its international market debut in April in Cannes at MIPTV, Mance Media said.

The ad-free channel features programming that includes documentaries such as Circles of Life, Grand Canyon, and Timescapes, and feature films such as The Rumperbutts, Scarlet’s Witch and The Toy Soldiers. Some content will be offered in HDR (high dynamic range).

Mance Media said 4KUNIVERSE will start to test UHD linear feeds with SES and AsiaSat in Q2 2016, and that its content will also be distributed on Ultra HD Blu-rays.  

The company noted that it’s also in talks with private equity and VC firms about raising capital for the new 4K channel.

Mance Media has not announced any distribution pacts with MVPDs, but is entering the mix as several large North American pay TV operators launch or prepare to launch 4K offerings, including DirecTV/AT&T, Dish Network, Comcast, Rogers Communications and Videotron. Notably, Mance Media was one of the content partners identified by Dish for an initial slate of 4K VOD fare  that will be offered on its new Hopper 3 DVR and 4K Joey device.

“Having strategic partners on board like satellite companies SES and AsiaSat allows our channel to enjoy the largest possible audience and adds immediate value at launch,” Matthew Mancinelli, founder and CEO of 4KUNIVERSE, said in a statement.

“Mance Media and 4KUNIVERSE represent exciting additions to the compelling and growing Ultra HD channel line up on our SES satellite-based Ultra HD platform,” added Steve Corda, VP of business development in North America for SES. “4KUNIVERSE provides the compelling content that Ultra HD TV owners are demanding, and SES’s unique end-to-end platform, designed for cable TV systems, 4KUNIVERSE will be delivered in a linear-channel format to virtually every cable TV headend and household in North America.”

“We are very pleased to welcome 4KUNIVERSETM on board our UHD platform on AsiaSat 4. Their exciting range of UHD theatrical movies and documentaries together with the powerful footprint of AsiaSat 4 will bring more choice of compelling content to the Asian audience. We are very excited to play a part of their global distribution and wish Mance Media every success,” said Sabrina Cubbon, vice president, marketing and global accounts, AsiaSat.

Expanding deeper into the world of 4K video, Harmonic has forged a partnership with satellite operator AsiaSat to launch a new Ultra HD channel.

That channel, 4K-SAT2/HVN, will be AsiaSat’s second free-to-air UHD channel on AsiaSat 4, a bird that’s situated at 122 degrees East, serving the Asia-Pacific region.

The new channel will launch on March 1, and will deliver 4K content from Harmonic’s video library, including content from the new NASA TV UHD channel, encoded in the bandwidth-saving HEVC Main 10 format.

The UHD channels via AsiaSat 4 will cover a footprint spanning an area across Zealand to Pakistan and part of the Middle East, encompassing more than 50 countries and regions, the companies said. Viewers will need an AsiaSat 4 C-band antenna and a HEVC set-top box.

The new channel is powered by Harmonic’s MediaGrid shared storage system, Polaris playout management platform, and Spectrum X media server system.

“With the cost of UHD TV sets dropping dramatically over the past year, demand for UHD content in Asia is expected to grow exponentially in the next couple of years,” said Sabrina Cubbon, vice president, marketing & global accounts at AsiaSat, in a statement. “Our partnership with Harmonic for this new channel ‘4K-SAT2/HVN,’ following the successful launch of our first UHD channel last year, enables the delivery of a choice of rich and compelling UHD content on AsiaSat 4, allowing us to demonstrate the superior quality via satellite of a linear Ultra HD channel in 2160p60 resolution.”