By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow on X.
Former editor of 4 TV magazines. Author of TV Dot Com.
TV Answer Man, do you know when ESPN will start doing college basketball games in 4K this season? — Dante, Cleveland.
Dante, in the last few years, ESPN has done a weekly college basketball game in 4K during the winter in the regular season. (The sports network also had a 4K game of the week during most of the college football regular season.) And ESPN’s 4K “Game of the Week’ for college hoops for the 2023/24 season will start tomorrow with the Kentucky-Texas A&M game at 2 p.m. ET. (The game will be simulcast in HD on the main ESPN channel.)
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YouTube TV has confirmed it will offer the game on its ESPN 4K channel to subscribers who have the $9.99 a month 4K add-on package. Other providers who might carry the game on special 4K channels are DIRECTV, DIRECTV Stream, Dish, Comcast, Verizon and Optimum. Check your on-screen guide for details.
ESPN does not offer 4K programming on its ESPN TV Everywhere app or ESPN+.
The ESPN 4K broadcast tomorrow will likely be ‘upconverted’ from 1080p HD. The upscaled 4K would mean that the game was produced in 1080p HD on site and upgraded to 4K for the home transmission. ESPN did some 2023 college football regular season games in upscaled 4K after offering games in native 4K in previous seasons.
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The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.
