• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, May 22, 2020

Do you need clearer viewing when it comes to your TV business news channel?

Maybe on your financial TV network of choice — Bloomberg TV, CNBC, or Fox Business — you are missing some statistical detail, something only a higher-quality TV screen, like 4K TV, can rectify.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg Media announce the launch of a 4K ultra high-definition channel on the Samsung TV Plus video service.

Financial data — perhaps in small characters on a regular TV screen at home — might not be needed for many serious stock-market traders. We are guessing those traders, for one, not only have 4K TV sets, but a big iMac Apple desktop display computer, and/or one of those prized Bloomberg terminals that changed all market trading decades ago.

But more more casual marketing traders and concerned consumers might eat up TV interviews of major business leaders showing deeper concern -- in the wake of the current depressed economy — in this way.

One can understand mainstream entertainment channels getting into the 4K game — even if there is limited 4K produced TV/movie content. Looking more broadly, all big media companies still love the idea of being on “all screens” in the TV Everywhere world.

Current pay TV providers DirecTV, Dish Network and Xfinity, have 4K channels. Other TV app operators with 4K options: Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, iTunes, PlayStation 4 Pro, UltraFlix, Vudu, Xbox, and YouTube/YouTube Premium.

New streamers: Disney+ and Apple TV+ offer 4K content. Yet to come: NBCUniversal’s Peacock will have it at launch; WarnerMedia’s HBO Max will have it sometime after its start.

Beyond premium broadcast/cable/streaming first-run scripted TV dramas, comedies and movies, many platforms also offer live sports TV programming in 4K — though little is on the air right now.

Still, the bulk of the TV world operates primarily on 1080 high-definition TV (HDTV) sets. And less so, in some cases. On DirecTV, for example, both CNBC World and CNN International — two TV news channels — air using older standard definition TV transmission.

Well, maybe clearer TV financial graphics and gripping on-screen business interviews will encourage more stock-market buying and selling.

And with a crushing 38.6 million workers out of job currently, and an economy definitely heading backwards for the next several months -- with an estimated eye-opening 30% decline in economic growth -- we’ll all be watching news and financial news more closely.

Bring the drama — and hopefully some money.