LAS VEGAS — 4K TVs were all the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show – but 4K content for those shiny new screens was not so much in evidence.
The chicken-and-egg problem likely involves the realization that, today, broadband pipes just aren’t big enough to deliver next-generation TV quality en masse.
“We know that customers want it – better quality means better audience engagement – they’re asking for it,” says networking group Akamai’s product marketing VP Neil Cohen.
“(But) it’s a matter of years in terms of the amount of time it takes for everyone to have 4K-ready content and devices. There’s a lot of work that has to happen in the media ecosystem to make 4K a reality.”
For its part, Akamai wants to take pressure off distribution networks by letting viewers routers and other hardware take more of the strain: “We are in the process of completely rearchitecting the way we’re going to deliver media for the next 15 years here at Akamai… by even embedding Akamai all the way in to the client and in to the home.”
He was interviewed for Beet.TV at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Beet.TV coverage of CES 2015 is sponsored by Adobe Primetime. Find all the coverage here.
