After back-to-back product introductions at the beginning of this year by DirecTV, Comcast and Dish Network, it looked as though pay-TV was going to embrace 4K/UltraHD in a pretty significant way in 2015. However, that has not been the case, and except for a few sporadic announcements about 4K-enabling satellite launches and 4K set-tops to be released at some undetermined future date, there has been little if any actual movement in the pay-TV industry on the UltraHD topic since January. Most of the cable industry's focus today in pay-TV seems to be on streaming skinny bundles and cloud virtualization. Some analysts think pay-TV operators are simply responding to the demand -- or lack thereof -- they see in the marketplace. Consumers, he said, were able to upgrade their living rooms to HD relatively inexpensively but 4K requires a major investment. There is also a lack of competitive pressure pushing the industry, as there is little concern that customers will leave an MSO simply because a rival has 4K service offerings. For more on the slow pace of 4K adoption in the U.S. pay-TV market, check out this FierceCable special report.
