Asia’s biggest content trading market, the Asia TV Forum (ATF), opens on 2 December in Singapore amid a rush to online/on-demand digital delivery, a frenzy of multi-platform rights and a whole lot of other energy going into future proofing (or at least attempting to) the media business.

Where, in all the chatter that will span the three days, will the 4K conversation be?

Everywhere, it seems. Even if’s not being widely seen right now.

“When it comes to 4K ultra high definition (UHD) TV, all eyes are on Asia,” says Terry Bleakley, regional vice president, Asia Pacific, for satellite operator Intelsat.

There are, however, no delusions across the broad industry about the ability – or, rather, inability – of viewers in Asia to see much, if anything, in 4K at home right now. Even if 60% of flat screen television sets in Asia are 4K ready, set-top boxes being installed in homes across the region remain way behind.

Consumers are ready, says Yau Chyong Lim, Malaysian satellite operator Measat Satellite System’s chief commercial officer. But the set-top boxes supplied by a majority of platform operators are not 4K-enabled. “The swap out of these set-top boxes and the availability of 4K contentwill determine how quickly 4K content gets adopted in Asia,” Lim says.

The situation is widely accepted to be temporary, although just how long a full 4K world will take is a moving target.

47% of respondents to an Intelsat survey last year predicted Asia would lead the way in 4K UHD TV adoption, particularly in more developed economies.

Bleakley points to trials in Korea and Japan, China leading world sales of 4K sets, and the installation by Indian platform Tata Sky of a 4K compliant box.

At the end of the day though, “4K will be driven by the consumer,” AsiaSat’s president and chief executive, Bill Wade, said earlier this year during the annual Casbaa Satellite Forum in Singapore.

Wade pointed out that Asia was still transitioning from standard definition to high definition, “and that has taken a long time”. He also said platform operators had to step up and invest in upgrades.

Distributors continue to point out that 4K is only as good as the weakest link in the distribution/delivery chain. While they acknowledge the temptation of, for instance, over compressing signals for cost or capacity reasons and compromising quality, they also say that sub-standard 4K experiences are damaging and will slow migration to the new standard.

The same issues have and continue to plague HD in some markets, where standard definition channels are still very much the norm. Some point out that even in Singapore, acceptance of standard definition channels remains strong.

Quality issues have led to skepticism about 4K claims in the short term.

AHEAD OF ASIA’S 4K DEMAND CURVE Those who can are taking full advantage of being ahead of the curve, with lots of upconverted 4K programming but also a growing slate of native 4K content. Measat’s Lim expects native 4K content to become the norm in a few years.

Anecdotally, demand for 4K content has increased “almost 100% overnight,” says Singapore-based GangTV founder, Greg Ang, who distributes a slate of 4K content and an HD/4K channel across the region.

The biggest difference between today’s demand and last year’s is in commitment. “In previous years there was talk about it, but not any real serious commitment, but this year, almost everyone I talk to has asked for 4K availability,” Ang says.

Factual producers and distributors have been quickest off the mark.

Canada’s wildlife and nature specialist, Blue Ant Media, which says it distributes more 4K unscripted content than any other distributor in the world, will be at the ATF with about 28 hours of native 4K content.

One of the top two titles coming to Singapore is Jackson Hole Film Festival’s 2015 Grand Teton winner, Jago: A Life Under Water, which is available in both HD and 4K.

The docu special follows an 80-year-old deep-sea hunter from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, who is shaky on land but like a fish in water. Blue Ant’s second title is Off the Fence’s three-part Land of Gremlins, also available in both 4K and HD.

Blue Ant has already made 4K its calling card. The company has committed to 300 hours of native 4K content a year, betting on a future that is all about ultra high definition.

Also out of Canada, Gusto TV says all its new original content is in native 4K with a frame speed rate of 50. President and chief executive officer, Chris Knight, says the company is bringing four new shows to the ATF and has an ongoing 4K production slate of 125 hours a year.

“There is tremendous interest in 4K from all over Asia, including Singapore, Korea, Japan and Hong Kong,” Knight said in the run-up to the ATF.

Another new brand in Asia with a 4K slate is U.S.-based Naturevision TV, which has between 10 and 20 hours of 4K content available via Gang TV. Ang says U.S.-based global fashion programmer, VideoFashion, which has been syndicating content in Asia for decades, has now migrated almost 100% to 4K, with about 200 hours a year for sale in Asia. Out of Japan, Skyperfect has 60 hours of 4K content on the acquisitionmarket right now.

Supply is picking up across genres, including drama.

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) says most of its television series are shot in 4K and many are already mastered in the standard. These include The Blacklist, Masters of Sex or Better Call Saul. SPT has done 4K deals in Japan, Korea and China and says it continues to see growing interest as 4K becomes more widely available on TV and streaming SVOD services.

With all its content already produced in HD, Globo migrated to 4K for the first time with new series, Merciless, which is part of its 2015 catalogue. The 13-part psychological thriller about a dangerous, if handsome and charming, psychopath and the woman who falls in love with him, is produced and post-produced in 4K and is available in HD as well.

4K versions of long-running drama series such as Telefe’s 60-episode shows, The Return of Lucas and Cannibals, will be on the ATF floor. The Return of Lucas, a 2015 co-production between Telefe and Peru’s America TV, is the story of an abducted boy who reappears 20 years later. Cannibals, a coproduction between Uruguay’s Monte Carlo TV and Fox International Channels Latin America, is a story of love, revenge and redemption in the world of politics.

JAPAN & KOREA LEAD Demand for 4K content in Asia is largely being led by terrestrial broadcasters in Japan and Korea.

In Japan, where public broadcaster NHK is the global leader in the ultra high definition space, commercial broadcasters are well into their higher-definition future.

Fuji TV, for instance, started streaming 4K content in July this year, with sports and documentaries.

Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK, meanwhile, is eyeing an 8K Super Hi-Vision future, and has spent more than US$1 billion so far on research and development. Research started in 1995.

In September this year, NHK showcased an 85-inch LCD with HDR images at IBC in Amsterdam, bringing the display to Tokyo for the first time in October.

This followed a year in which NHK flexed its 8K muscle around the world, including producing 8K broadcasts of 10 matches at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada in June/July. The matches aired live at two public venues in Japan and three venues in Canada and the U.S.

8K test broadcasts are scheduled to begin in Japan in 2016. NHK’s current plan is to introduce regular 8K broadcasting in 2018 and to broadcast the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 8K.

In Korea, public broadcaster, Korean Broadcasting System (KBS), has installed 4K technology. Meanwhile, the government is pushing an 11K agenda in partnership with Samsung. The promise is an optical illusion that gives viewers unprecedented depth of field and, some say, will make 3D (if it isn’t already) irrelevant.

If other markets in Asia trail behind Japan and Korea, they are, nevertheless, on the 4K case.

Demand differs by market, with, for instance, China picking up 4K sports, but most markets hot right now for documentary and lifestyle.

Like AsiaSat’s Wade, GangTV’s Ang says consumers are driving demand. The motivation is the same as it was with HD – consumers upgrade their TV sets and start looking for content.

“So the platforms and terrestrials have to move up to 4K. If not now, then soon. And in this instance, the first to the plate wins,” Ang says.

PICKY BUYERS Buyers are picky, with true 4K at the top of their priority lists. “It has to be 50 fps [frames per second] and not up-resolution from 25 fps,” Ang says.

Gusto TV’s Chris Knight says the most frequently asked question from buyers is about quality. Buyers most often want to know whether it’s truly 4K and what the frame rate speed is, he says.

Although the range of genres is increasing, the type of content, for now, seems to be taking a back seat, and broadcasters have limited choice until 4K production increases.

“Broadcasters are asking for 4K first and then the genre because of limited supply,” Ang says.

SPACE INVADERS Satellite capacity providers say they are more than prepared for 4K’s voracious bandwidth requirements, and there isn’t a satellite operator we could find that doesn’t have 4K on its radar.

All say 4K will have a significant impact on their business in Asia. HD, however, still commands most headspace.

“There is a lot of preparation and jostling amongst satellite operators stoked by interest from content owners and providers. However the impact from 4K is currently still relatively small compared to the impact of HD at this juncture,” says Measat’s Yau Chyong Lim.

At the same time, Measat expects 4K’s impact to increase with more 4K content becoming available in the near-term.

“We are preparing to launch more 4K channels in 2016 following ourlaunch of the first 4K channel distributed via satellite in September 2015,” he adds.

HIGH COSTS – OR MAYBE NOT Intelsat’s head of media services, Peter Ostapiuk, says “4K UHDTV is driving innovation at all levels of the ecosystem.”

“As innovation within the 4K UHDTV ecosystem continues, each technology improvement in compression will enable a lower barrier of entry for new channels and services,” Ostapiuk adds.

That would be good news for programmers, many of whom are say the cost of delivering true 4K services currently is prohibitive.

New nature channel, Love Nature, for instance, masters at 700 mega bits per second.

“If you put a channel up at 700 Mbps today, you could probably buy the satellite yourself,” says Gregg Creevey, managing director of Multi Channels Asia (MCA), which distributes a bouquet of indie channels, including Love Nature.

Satellite operators across the region agree that pricing will become more affordable.

Malaysia’s Measat says delivery costs are lower than predicted because of new compression technologies, which lower bandwidth requirements, and higher power satellites.

NEW ERA Out of Hong Kong, satellite operator AsiaSat is, like others, heralding a new era for satellite broadcasting services in the region.

AsiaSat’s reason this time is the launch at the end of October 2015 of its first free-to-air 4K-Sat channel across more than 50 countries and regions. The footprint reaches across New Zealand to Pakistan and part of the Middle East. The ultra-high definition (UHD) channel is on the AsiaSat-4 satellite at 122°E.

The channel, which combines fashion, beauty and lifestyle content as well as documentaries, is available to anyone – platforms and direct to consumers – with an AsiaSat-4 C-band antenna and a HEVC set-top box.

The idea is to help drive 4K penetration by offering a true UHD sampler, broadcast at 50 frames per second (fps) with 10-bit colour depth and 3840 x 2160 pixels resolution, which is four times the resolution of full HDTV.

“The launch of this UHD channel on our new AsiaSat-4 UHD broadcast platform provides an opportunity for all stakeholders to experience and promote UHD content in Asia,” says Sabrina Cubbon, AsiaSat’s vice president, marketing and global accounts.

Earlier this year, Intelsat’s chief executive, Stephen Spengler, talked about expectations of more than 400 4K channels being broadcast on direct-to-home (DTH) satellite platforms and approximately 250 4K channels being available for video distribution by 2024. Spengler was referencing forecasts published by satellite research agency, Northern Sky Research (NSR).

Spengler spoke about “a burgeoning [capacity] marketplace that we [satellite operators] can play a role in”, adding however that satellite suffered from the perception that it was slow, expensive and complicated compared to fibre.

“I believe that’s a perception that we have to deal with,” he told delegates at the annual Casbaa Satellite Forum in Singapore. Satellite operators had to “be part of the solution,” he insisted, adding: “How do we simplify what we bring to market to expand that market. How do we bring the magic back to the solutions we provide – it’s an opportunity for us”.

Where 4K is concerned and whatever else they disagree on, the rest of the industry is in full agreement about the opportunity. And the magic.

This article first appeared in ContentAsia Issue 6, 2015, published in December 2015.