It’s been a turbulent time for live sports, but by and large, things seem to have returned to some semblance of normalcy. Which is great, because the 2022 Fifa World Cup is now less than a year away, and MultiChoice wants to bring it to you in 4K.
4K kickabouts
Barry Dubovsky, MultiChoice CEO, told TechCentral on Thursday that 4K streaming is on the horizon for DStv and Showmax Pro (Showmax’s premium subscription), and that while it can’t make any promises, it’s set on having that ready in time for the Qatar Fifa World Cup.
“Going forward, though, absolutely, we are seeing more and more content being accessed via smart TVs and on bigger screens, so we need to be where our customers are. With that in mind, 4K and 1080p, everything is absolutely on the agenda,” says Dubovsky. “4K, heading into the World Cup… It’s not a promise, but we want to ensure we can get the experience as good as it possibly can be ahead of that flagship event.”
DStv’s latest decoder, the Explora Ultra, already supports 4K functionality with apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Setting up 4K infrastructure with DStv will take work. Similarly, setting up Showmax to stream the World Cup is no easy task.
“There will be a lot of pressure on our engineers to ensure stability and that the service doesn’t go down,” says Duovsky. ” There are a lot of moments of truth coming up with the World Cup, where we are expecting a significant influx of users onto the platform. We need to ensure we don’t disappoint them.”