Harmonic’s Ultra HD Channel on Track To Go ‘Fully Live’ Sunday, CEO Says

Harmonic continues to see “encouraging signs” that the Ultra HD market “is slowly gaining momentum,” CEO Patrick Harshman said on a Tuesday earnings call. Ultra HD TV sales “continue to grow” and H.265-compatible set-tops “are starting to be deployed,” he said. “We expect this market momentum to continue to build, while we continue to demonstrate superior picture quality at lower bit rates than our closest competitors, which in turn is enabling us to assemble a growing pipeline of new Ultra HD opportunities.” Harmonic’s partnership with NASA to launch North America’s first linear Ultra HD channel “is generating quite a bit of interest among our customers,” he said. The channel is available as a test and is on track to go “fully live” Sunday, he said.