TORONTO — Two of Canada's largest telecommunications companies are touting a raft of live sports content for 4K TV owners scrounging for content.
Rogers predicted a breakout year for the technology as it boasted about providing the first NHL game live in 4K on Saturday.
The special "Hockey Night in Canada" telecast will feature the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Montreal Canadiens, and is the first of 20 games set to be beamed in the much-hyped, higher-resolution technology also known as Ultra HD. For now, it's limited to Ontario viewers with 4K capability.
Meanwhile, Bell announced a new 4K PVR capable of high dynamic range (HDR) broadcasting for Fibe TV customers in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City.
On Wednesday, TSN will broadcast its first live 4K event: the Toronto Raptors hosting the Boston Celtics.
TSN's five national feeds promise more featuring the Toronto Raptors, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators.
During a lunchtime presentation, Rogers' president Rick Brace called the push for more 4K content "a revolution."
"To say evolution would be understating it," Brace said.
Rogers' plan for 2016 is to air 500 hours of TV content in 4K, the ultra-high-definition technology that offers four times the resolution of HDTV.
Most of that will be live sports content — including 81 Blue Jays baseball as well as the 20 NHL games — but will also include more than 100 hours of 4K movies and TV shows, including programming on Shomi and Netflix.
While 4K has been available for years, a dearth of content and relative expense has kept it from wide adoption.
Rogers' executives predicted those two issues will erode this year.
Technicians have been hooking up 4K TV sets at a rate of about 200 a week, said Dirk Woessner, Rogers' president of consumer business.
"People are buying the equipment," said Woessner, calling 4K television "the next big thing."
"If you're buying the equipment you also want the content for it. And we're actually providing the content."
Rogers' president of Sportsnet & NHL properties said the transition to 4K technology "is much quicker than we saw with HD."
"In HD we really got into it seriously in 2003 and it really was an evolution," said Scott Moore. "This, I think, is going to be more of a hockey stick," he said of predicted uptake.
Rogers delivered the first live 4K sports broadcast in North America last Thursday, when the Toronto Raptors took on the Orlando Magic at The O2 in London.
Saturday's NHL broadcast is produced by Sportsnet and will be available to Ontario Rogers customers through NextBox 4K on Channel 999.
Brace said the next step will be scripted content.
"You're going to see that non-sport content grow exponentially over the next year or so. There's more and more being produced in 4K."
In late February, Bell's 4K Whole Home PVR will be expanded to all Bell Fibe TV customers and to Bell Aliant FibreOP TV customers in Atlantic Canada.
