In 4K, DirecTV Has 'Capacity' To Do ‘Quite a Bit More Than We're Doing Today,’ CEO Says

DirecTV CEO Michael White thinks the “most important question” facing Ultra HD adoption is “what content's going to be available in 4K,” he said Thursday in the Q&A portion of an earnings call. DirecTV laid claim to becoming the first multichannel video programming distributor to deliver 4K VOD to customer homes when it launched Ultra HD programming mid-November (see 1411130039). DirecTV also said it plans to launch "linear" 4K TV services in 2016 (see 1411130033). There’s “a lot of ways to get there,” White said on the call about building a 4K content arsenal. “The best way is to shoot in 4K, but that's quite expensive, and that's why I don't think you see any of the guys jumping in for linear streaming. And to be honest with you, I don't expect to see linear streaming anytime soon because of the cost.” High costs for shooting content in 4K, including for Ultra HD trucks, new cameras and other expenses, are why VOD will be “the first priority from a 4K standpoint” for DirecTV, White said. “We are working on getting more content available” in 4K, White said. “We have had a number of interesting conversations with programming partners about: are there a few events we might want to partner up” on to be shot in 4K and streamed on DirecTV, he said. “The good news is with our new satellite capacity, we have the capacity to do linear channels. We have the capacity to do quite a bit more than we're doing today.” DirecTV in early December announced the successful launch of its DirecTV 14 satellite for Ultra HD delivery. DirecTV 14 will begin commercial operations in Q2, the company has said. White thinks “you'll see more 4K TV sets sold this year based on the strength of the marketing that you're seeing and lower prices from the TV set manufacturers,” he said. “But I'm not building plans around this, all of the HD channels converting to 4K anytime soon. But we'll see down the road as things evolve.”