4K Ultra HD enthusiasts who don’t love having to subscribe to top DirecTV programming tiers to get access to three 4K HD channels, have reason to rejoice.
DirecTV’s Mari Melguizo, a spokesperson for AT&T Entertainment & AdWorks, confirmed a report on TV Predictions.com this morning that said subscribers to the satellite TV service who get the Select plan or above can watch the service’s three 4K channels, starting this week.
Previously, the channels were only available to customers who subscribed to DirecTV’s Ultimate or Premiere channel packages that start at $93 per month. The Select plan offers some 145 channels for $50 a month, and is one of the lowest priced channel tiers on DirecTV.
Read more on DirecTV’s 4K channel access after the jump:
All users will also have to have a 4K-supporting DirecTV Genie DVR (model HR54-200 or above) and for secondary rooms, a 4K Genie Mini C61K-700 remote room thin-client box or higher, or a “DirecTV 4K Ready TV.
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DirecTV currently offers three 4K UHD channels, one that continuously runs general interest programming from DirecTV’s Audience Network, documentaries and more (channel 104); one with on-demand pay per view movies (channel 105) and one used for special live events including NBA and Major League Baseball games, concerts and Notre Dame Football games (channel 106).
Melguizo told HD Guru that “DirecTV lowered the package requirement from Ultimate to Select and above packages and Mas Latino and above En Espanol packages, in time for the holiday season to allow more of our customers to enjoy DirecTV’s programming in 4K UHD.”
DirecTV’s 4K Ultra HD channels offer high-resolution native 4K content offering sharper images, particularly perceivable on large screen TVs 70-inches and above. But the service still is not offering 4K content for high dynamic range (HDR) metadata.
Asked when DirecTV would begin to provide 4K content with HDR, Melguizo told us: “it is on the radar for next year.”
By Greg Tarr
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