Russia’s Okko to stream 4K movies to LG smart TVs

LG Smart TV

Russian streaming video-on-demand service Okko – formerly known as Play – is to make its first 4K UHD movies available via the LG smart TV platform from next month.

Okko will stream a range of Hollywood movies encoded in the H.265/HEVC format and delivered using MPEG-DASH adaptive bit-rate streaming.

Okko first trailed the deal with LG at the IFA consumer electronics trade fair in Germany earlier this month. The company said it had complied with the security standards of four of the six Hollywood studios.

Okko said that, unlike existing 4K services, which require a dedicated box, its service would be preinstalled on LG smart TVs.

Okko said it is in talks to make new Hollywood releases available via the 4K service, and has secured rights to The Gunman, starring Sean Penn and Javier Bardem, which will be available next year.

The service will kick off in October with a range of documentary movies shot in native 4K.

Okko, formerly known as Play, launched as a brand in July.