There’s a lot to get excited about in the television industry these days. We’re on the verge of a new era of “The Late Show,” for instance, with Stephen Colbert about to take over for David Letterman. And Netflix, the best performing stock thus far this year in the S&P 500, is gearing up for a summer of exciting premiers that will certainly drive revenues for cable companies.

But content aside, we here at Great Lakes Data Systems (GLDS) are excited about some of the technological advances coming down the pike in the television industry, as follows:

High Dynamic Range television sets: As mentioned in a recent Forbes article, all of the focus in the television industry right now is on a new trend called High Dynamic Range (HDR). Basically, the brightness of television screens will increase as manufacturers develop TV sets that reach 1,000 nits or higher. Brighter screens, in combination with specially captured footage, are creating increasingly life-like pictures that will grab consumers’ attention.

The proliferation of 4K technology: The 4K television market is about to experience tremendous growth. Last year, for instance, just 1 percent of U.S. homes had 4K technology; by 2020, this number will climb to 50 percent. A next-generation television technology, 4K—or “ultra HD”—uses about 8 million pixels, or four times as many pixels as a standard high-definition picture. Netflix is in the process of producing 4K follow-up episodes to its widely popular Planet Earth series, which is bound to produce stellar profits.

More self-service for customers: Here at GLDS, we’re excited about our current project (still in its beta phase), which will allow customers to subscribe to premium services without the help of a supporting agent. “Self-subscribe” will help facilitate more revenue streams for cable providers, as the process of self-service will be greatly expedited.