Tata Sky, India's leading direct-to-home (DTH) operator, will launch the first commercial 4K video service in the subcontinent, partnering Ericsson. The launch, which sees Tata offering 4K set top boxes, comes ahead of the cricket World Cup which is taking place from the 14th of February to 29th of March. The Tata Sky 4K services, says the company, enables subscribers to watch videos up to four times the resolution of the standard high definition (HD) video currently available.
The partnership will see Ericsson providing the HEVC (High Efficiency Video Codec) compression technology to power the 4K video distribution on high resolution 1080P50 format, to achieve cost-effectiveness and bandwidth savings.
In addition to the 4K video service, Tata Sky, which is a JV between the Tata group and the media company, Star and which has over 10 million active connections, has started offering an additional of 20 channels to its existing standard definition service subcribers following its upgrade to the latest MPEG 4 compression format.
Tata Sky is committed towards delivering a world class TV viewing experience to its customers. As the discerning customers of today look towards the future of TV, we are pleased to extend our partnership with Ericsson to deliver next generation 4K ultra high definition technology to our customers in India.
Chris Houghton, Head, Ericsson's Region India
Ericsson is delighted to partner with Tata Sky to roll out India's first commercial 4K video service. Superior technology, proven industry leadership and service excellence from Ericsson enables Tata Sky to offer a differentiated and future proofed digital experience to its subscribers.
