Related Articles
Building on a content deal first announced at CES 2014, Samsung and 20th Century Fox today revealed what the companies are calling a “New UHD Content Ecosystem.”
Said to deliver a variety of 4K (aka UHD) content using the Smart Hub platform built into Samsung’s 2014 4K TVs, the partnership “will also explore additional collaboration opportunities in multiple areas of innovation.”
Specifics beyond those vague buzzwords, for example timing, delivery mechanism, bandwidth requirements and cost, were scarce. We’ll try to pry more details about the announcement from Samsung at its press event today in New York.
Aside from Fox, Samsung has previously announced 4K content deals with Amazon, M-Go, DirecTV and Comcast. And like many other TV makers, Samsung will work with Netflix’s 4K streaming service.
Related stories
- What is 4K?
- Ultra HD 4K TV Cheat Sheet
- Samsung’s CES 2014 TVs
- Samsung teams with Amazon, Comcast, studios on 4K video
At CES Samsung unveiled a UHD Video Pack, essentially a hard drive pre-loaded with 4K content, including Fox movies “Night at the Museum,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “The Counselor.” The device will also include Paramount’s “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” and “World War Z,” as well as three documentaries and short clips.
It will be available in April for $299 and only work with Samsung 4K TVs. Samsung says a second pack with other content will ship in the second half of the year.
By way of comparison, Sony’s FMP-X1 media player ($699) is also proprietary (to Sony 4K TVs) and offers access to more than 100 4K movies and TV shows — starting at $7.99 for 24-hour rental and $29.99 for purchases. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fox and Samsung’s service followed a similar pricing model.
At the same time today, Samsung announced pricing, availability and additional details on its TVs and home theater, including 4K and curved TVs.
