Insight launches UHD SVOD service

Insight UHD has launched a subscription video-on-demand service, initially on Apple TV and Android devices, with other CE platforms including Chromecast, LG, Xbox One, Amazon, Samsung and Sony PlayStation to follow.

Speaking at MIPTV, CEO Rian Bester said Insight had teamed up with online video platform provider NeuLion to deliver a service encoded in HEVC. The service will provide 4K content that is also filmed in HDR.

Content on the SVOD offering includes reality survival series Living Stone, freestyle motocross show Inside the Masters of Dirt, mountain bike doc series MTB Heroes, and survival competition No Time to Lose.

Bester said that channel providers needed to be flexible in order to further the cause of UHD TV: “We are launching our own SVOD application but we are having discussion with pay TV providers to embed our platform on their service.”

He said he believed HDR would be “a critical success factor” for UHD TV, but added that wider colour gamut is just as important, or even more important, as the dynamic range.

“Costs remain high… from a production point of view, and HDR is adding costs,” he said. Post-production is also more complex, leading to additional costs. However, Insight TV has a good post-production partner, which is making the provider’s life easier, he added.

Also speaking at MIPTV, Peter Bellamy, SVP for EMEA at NeuLion, said that global shipments of 4K UHD TV set are expected to reach 330 million by 2019.

“4K is becoming increasingly central to all of our partners’ plans,” he said, claiming that OTT TV platforms are at the forefront of 4K development.

The Insight UHD service was initially available on the Insight.tv website.