3net Studios, the production arm of Sony-Discovery-Imax joint venture 3net, has announced its initial production slate — which includes some of the first 4K commercial television content.
Company’s slate includes “Space,” a science series billed as the first-ever native 4K TV skein, produced in association with Percolate Digital; “Marksmen,” a stop-motion 3D four-part “graphic novel” series, produced in association with Jump! 3D; “Frozen in Time: Our History in 3D,” which looks at American history using restored original 3D photographs, produced in association with Tom Jennings Prods./1895 Films; “Wingsuit Warrior: Jed Corliss vs. the World,” in association with New Wave Entertainment; and “Daydream,” a travel-adventure series produced by 3net subsid Z3D Films.
“Space” will be produced in what 3net calls “TotalD”; the show will be available in native 3D 4K, 2D 4K, 3D 2K and 3D/2D HD. Televisions that can show the newly dubbed “Ultra HD” 4K TV standard are expected to be showcased at January’s Consumer Electronics Show.
3net prexy-CEO Tom Cosgrove told Variety that the network is going ahead with 4K production though there is not yet any method for transmitting it.
“Sony and the other CE guys are all engaged on that and working on that,” said Cosgrove, “because obviously, they realize that to make this whole thing work, content will be a huge part of it, as it always is.”
4K video could be downloaded or even streamed via Internet, but the files are much larger than those for current HD video.
Cosgrove said that 3net sees two advantages in producing at 4K: first, future-proofing its content. “We look at 4K as a way to present a really amazing 3D picture, because all these 4K sets are 3D enabled,” he said.
Also, he said, 4K fits 3net’s niche in the industry. “We think it’s important for us to be a pioneer and be out there early and sort of set the pace as a content provider.”
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