63% of a survey of 77 media executives from 24 different countries expect 4K TV usage to be mainstream within five to seven years, per Luxembourg-based Intelsat S.A. Already, 42% of these executives have made the decision to launch a 4K TV service; with 23% planning to launch in less than four years.
Video on demand will be one of the first areas to take on 4K TV usage, according to 60% of surveyed technical media executives. Also digital cinema, over-the-top (OTT) and direct-to-home (DTH) TV distribution will be the initial platforms for 4K TV.
Issues of greatest concern to them going forward include: Higher transmission and content production costs -- 67%; more efficient transmission technologies -- 62%; affordable television sets -- 52%; and ability to achieve a return on their investment: 71%.
About a third of those surveyed critical mass of content (38%); sufficient household penetration (35%); and available 4K UHDTV-enabled set top boxes (31%) as important factors in the roll-out of 4K TV.
Actually the survey said it would impact the mainstream in 5-7 years and then go full mainstream in 10 years -- which is exactly the conclusion TDG came to. It's takes much longer to build out a full support ecosystem and for the consumer replacement cycle to move 4K sets into the living room.