Seoul, South Korea – Samsung is gearing up for the IFA show in Berlin by revealing plans to deliver streaming Ultra HD content from Amazon and others to compatible TV sets.
Samsung said in a statement on its Samsung Tomorrow web site and Twitter that it struck a deal with Amazon and several other partners to expand streaming 4K UHD content offerings available on its UHD TVs.
“The era of UHD has begun, and to continue even more widespread adoption, it is important to provide consumers with more choices when it comes to UHD content,” stated Won Jin Lee, Samsung Electronics visual display business executive VP. “We are providing our customers with a wider array of UHD content to enjoy on our ultra-immersive Curved UHD TVs.”
The Amazon UHD service will begin globally in October, with Samsung UHD TVs being among the first sets with access to it.
Programming will include both movies and TV shows directly from Amazon’s Prime Instant Video UHD on-demand streaming service, which will match up with a UHD streaming service that recently began streaming to Samsung, LG, Sony and other UHD TVs from Netflix.
DirecTV has said it also plans to offer streaming UHD content on demand later this year.
Samsung’s latest statement also said it has arranged to offer UHD content from providers Chili, Maxdome and Wuaki.tv, but didn’t specify what that will include or which regions would have access.
Samsung said it has also been actively working with partners in the industry to develop a solution for secure UHD content distribution. By working with the Secure Content Storage Association (SCSA) – whose founding members include SanDisk, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., and Western Digital – to establish content storage security standards Samsung will be able to provide Hollywood studios’ highest quality content to consumers via a download service.
Samsung also now offers in the U.S., and soon in other countries, its “UHD video pack.” The video pack has been produced in association with Fox Home Entertainment and includes no less than 40 UHD movies including “Life Of Pi” and “Star Trek: Into Darkness” preloaded on a 500GB media player.
In other regions, Samsung also partnered with RTP, a Portuguese national broadcasting company, and Portugal Telecom (PT) – through MEO, to offer live-streaming of the World Cup warm-up matches in UHD, marking “the world’s first UHD live-streaming sports broadcast” viewable on Samsung curved-screen UHDTVs without a set-top box.
