Rogers committing to more 4K TV for 2016

That hasn’t stopped Rogers, Bell and Telus from launching the high-priced and cutting-edge service that offers the ability to download at speeds of up to one gigabit per second.

Rogers Ignite Gigabit will be available in Harbourfront, Cabbagetown, Riverdale, King Street West, Queen Street West, the Financial District, Discovery District, Yonge and Bloor, and elsewhere in the GTA including Vaughan, Markham, Richmond Hill, Pickering, Ajax, and Whitby.

The Canadian firm says it will have 4K TV with HDR for the Toronto Blue Jays’ home opener in April 2016.

Tied in, Rogers also said it will offer gigabit speeds to its entire footprint by the end of 2016, starting in downtown Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area.

The cost to upgrade its broadcasting equipment is “not insignificant” but is factored into the company’s investment spending, Scott Moore, head of Rogers’ sports properties said at the announcement.

In the past, Netflix has ranked Rogers’s Netflix streaming speeds as being slower than that of most other Canadian internet service providers.

The country’s No. 1 cable and wireless phone company, which also owns the Toronto Blue Jays, is hoping to leverage sports assets like the Major League Baseball team and long-term NHL hockey broadcast rights to move viewers to the new standard.

Customers will enjoy live 4K TV broadcasts – four times the pixels of HD for higher resolution and improved motion video.

“The wider the pipe you have going into a customer’s home or office for the Internet, then the more services that you can possibly sell them over that pipe”, he said.

Granted most people don’t even have a 4K set yet, and even half of all homes aren’t expected to have one until around 2020. “[We] will connect the Rogers network to Netflix servers, enabling a better Netflix experience with faster start-up times and superior image quality”.

For those who don’t want to upgrade their Internet package, Rogers plans to offer a new 4K-ready set-top box, though it hasn’t revealed the price. “However, until now live TV broadcasts in 4K have been few and far between and customers have not been able to get 4K set top boxes”.

Rogers said it will charge $149.99 a month for a package of its 4K TV, 4K set top box and unlimited gigabit Internet.

Rogers Communications is a leading diversified public Canadian communications and media company. Through Rogers Media, we are engaged in radio and television broadcasting, televised shopping, magazines and trade publications, sports entertainment, and digital media.