ESPN: No Plans for Ultra-HD

posted:

22/08/2013

The 4K Supporters

Still hurting after having to close its 3D channel, sports broadcasting giant ESPN say it has no plans to produce a separate Ultra-HD channel. CTO Chuck Pagano says that neither DirecTV or Dish have asked ESPN to provide an Ultra-HD feed.

While analysts are happy forecasting a potential Ultra-HD audience of 10 million homes around the world by 2016, and perhaps more, there is – as yet – a reluctance from broadcasters to announce their own plans. To date, Japan’s SkyPerfectTV has promised a 2014 start to its 4K transmissions, while Korean broadcasters, such as KT SkyLife talking about similar plans.

TV Globo is enthusiastic about exploiting the 2014 football World Cup as well as Brazil’s 2016 Olympic Games in 4K. In Europe, the BBC is producing content in 4K and Sky Deutschland is carrying out extensive tests on the technology. Digiturk is showing interest and the French-backed 4EVER project is making considerable progress in streamlining 4K production and post-production, while Ericsson is moving ahead rapidly with its technology support for 4K transmission.