Ultra HD still faces some challenges ahead of its launch,...

is going to be next year, not this year,” although a limited number will ship in 2013, he said. DePriest declined to predict when pricing on Ultra HD TVs will be low enough for sales to become significant in the U.S. But he expressed confidence that CE manufacturers will know when the time is right to lower pricing and add features to spur demand. As in transitions in the past, CE manufacturers will need content to stimulate sales of 4K displays, but content companies will “need a reason to produce” it, he said. But “of all the players, I think distribution is the key” to 4K’s success because if you can distribute 4K content, you can better test the market for demand, he said. We'll know if Ultra HD is moving forward in the U.S. if we start seeing more public demonstrations of the technology and if 4K and 8K promotion groups are created, he said. Next year’s World Cup will spur demand for Ultra HD, he predicted. “The events that are likely to drive” the launches of 4K broadcast services in 2014 and 8K services in 2019 or 2020 will include the Winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018 and the 2020 Summer Olympics, he said. “This is an aggressive schedule” for the rollout of the services, but we still “need additional standards” and “more equipment development,” he said. Some device makers will be unwilling to wait for 8K and it’s not clear if 4K and 8K can “co-exist,” he said. Content creators looking to purchase equipment will be left trying to decide whether to support 4K or 8K, he said. Ultra HD broadcast trial activity remains “centered” in Japan and South Korea for now, he said. There have been 4K trials in South Korea since September 2012 and that’s continuing there this year, he said. “The Korean community” has expressed a lot of interest in 4K and 8K adoption, and “it’s clear that Korea is on a path forward,” he said. In Japan, manufacturers are focused on 4K, he said. NHK targeted an experimental broadcast 8K service launch for 2020 in Japan, but that may happen sooner, he said. In Europe “there is increasing momentum in the 4K camp,” with satellite trials by Eutelsat and SES, he said. Spain telecom operator Abertis recently demonstrated the first terrestrial 4K service, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, on Sharp’s 84-inch TV, he said. In the U.S., “it’s somewhat difficult to tell what the status” of 4K and 8K broadcast tests are, he said. NBCUniversal teamed with the BBC and other companies overseas for 8K demonstrations of the London Olympic Games, he said. Netflix also teamed with Samsung at CES for a 4K demonstration, he said. But there’s no “open advocate” yet in the U.S. for 4K or 8K among broadcasters, he said. CBS had been a strong proponent of HD, he said. DePriest was vice president of technology at NBCUniversal, where he led its Washington demonstration of 8K technology during the London Olympic Games in cooperation with NHK and the BBC.