Q. I’ve been thinking about getting a 4K TV to watch this year’s college basketball tournament in 4K. But then I thought, hey, will it even be in 4K?! I have DIRECTV. So tell me Mr. Answer Man, will March Madness be in 4K? — Denise, Lusby, Maryland.
Denise, the annual NCAA basketball tournament championship, better known as March Madness, has never been in 4K. But that’s about to change.
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DIRECTV today revealed that it will air March Madness in the new picture format from the dates of March 19 through March 30. The satcaster says at its web site that the games will air on its live 4K channel, which is 106, and they will be broadcast in both 4K and HDR. (HDR stands for High Dynamic Range which can enhance the color and clarity of the 4K picture.)
Unfortunately, DIRECTV has not revealed additional details, such as how many games will air in 4K HDR. But we expect a schedule will be released shortly after the March Madness pairings are announced, which is Sunday, March 17. (Note: The tournament will be produced and broadcast by CBS and Turner Sports.)
If DIRECTV holds to the dates of March 19-30, that would mean it won’t air the Final Four championship round in 4K. The Final Four and championship game will be played on April 6 and April 8th respectively.
But we will update this story as more details become available. We also check if other providers, such as Dish or fuboTV, will air the games in 4K.
Until then, happy viewing!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
Photo credit: Free photo from Pexels.com.
CBS will not let them air the Final Four championship round in 4K. As they don’t want to piss off the local channels.
DirecTV site was just updated. According to the site, the First Four games in Dayton, the 1st and 2nd round games in Tulsa, and the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games in Anaheim will be available in 4K.