Sony wants to make ‘Breaking Bad’ even badder by airing it in eye-popping 4K

By Ryan Waniata January 7, 2014

netflix to serve up 4k offerings of breaking bad in june breakingbadlarge edit — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Thought Breaking Bad was intense the first time around? Sony wants you to give it one more go — this time in heart-pounding 4K.

At its CES 2014 press conference last night, Sony announced plans to bring America’s favorite meth drama to its new UHD TV series and media players via the company’s Video Unlimited 4K download service. The service, launched last September, will also host around 140 other titles, including a respectable list of movies from Moneyball to Ghostbusters. Sony also announced plans to push for more 4K content in several other segments, outlining a new multi-tiered approach to bolster the current deficit of available 4K viewing choices.

The move to raise 4K content from the doldrums has already become something of a theme at the dawn of the convention, with two other big names already announcing their own ambitious plans to expand 4K programming, including Samsung and LG.

Another theme that seems to be repeating itself only one day into the big show is the appearance of Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings. Hastings made a pop-in at LG’s press conference to talk about offering a new 4K streaming app to pair with LG’s webOS smart platform, and then made his way down to the Sony press conference to gush about the prowess of the new XBR series, saying it runs Netflix apps faster than any TV he’s seen.

One thing is for sure: Netflix, the major TV brands, and just about everyone else in the industry are serious about 4K. While there may be almost nothing to watch on the dazzling UHD TVs at present, CES 2014 is a a glimmer of hope that, with their powers combined, 4K will soon be more than just a series of demo reels for the 4K TV hype machines.

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Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…

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