Netflix gives 'Breaking Bad' the 4K treatment

Continuing to serve the finite number of U.S. homes with 4K-capable TV sets and broadband connections, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) will expand its Ultra HD program offerings to include all 62 episodes of the popular Sony Pictures Television series Breaking Bad.

The news was announced via Twitter Monday by Netflix spokesman Joris Evers. Netflix added in a company blog post Monday that Sony Pictures titles Smurfs, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 would be available for streaming in the next month.

In that Netflix post, company digital supply chain VP Kevin McEntee noted that Netflix and Sony had agreed to an early subset of the IMF (Interoperable Master Format) for the transfer of the video and audio files for "Breaking Bad."

IMF is an "emerging SMPTE specification governing file formats and metadata for digital media archiving and B2B exchange," McEntee explains.

At January's CES confab, Netflix announced a 4K app, allowing its content to stream on new 4K capable TV sets from Sony, LG Electronics, Samsung and Vizio. It soon made all 13 second-season episodes of its hit original series House of Cards available in the 4K.

For more:
- read this Netflix post
- The Verge has this story
- read this Multichannel News story

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