Comcast has announced that it will air five NASCAR races in 4K, but you’ll have to wait awhile to watch them.
The first that will be available in the format will be a May 9 race at the Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. But beggars can’t be choosers, right? CBS announced last week that the Super Bowl wouldn’t be in 4K, and Fox and CBS are not doing today’s NFL conference championship games in the format.
The five 4K NASCAR broadcasts, which will be produced by Fox, will be available in high-def on FS1. Here’s the complete list:
5/9 Cup Series Racing from Darlington (3:30pm ET, FS1)
5/23 Cup Series Racing from COTA (2:30pm ET, FS1)
6/6 Cup Series Racing from Sonoma (4:00pm ET, FS1)
6/13 All-Star Open from the Texas Motor Speedway (6:00pm ET, FS1)
6/13 All-Star Race from the Texas Motor Speedway (8:00pm ET, FS1)
Note: Fox normally produces its 4K coverage in 1080p and ‘upscales’ it to a 4K broadcast as opposed to shooting the event in 4K and transmitting in the same format. Upscaling is the process when one video format is converted to another. In this case, Fox takes the 1080p HDR signal and convert it to a 4K format.
Comcast X1 video subscribers who have a 4K-enabled set-top (XG1v4 or Xi6 model) can say ‘4K’ into the Xfinity voice remote to display the listing before the event. (Xfinity Flex customers must have a Xi6 model device from the cable operator.)
The next scheduled nationally-televised 4K event on Comcast is a January 28th Premier League soccer match between Tottenham vs. Liverpool at 3 p.m. ET. (Comcast will offer some Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks games in 4K in Chicago.) After that, it’s the Big East college basketball tournament in March.
However, Fox and ESPN is likely to add some regular season basketball games in 4K between now and March. If so, Comcast is likely to carry them in the format.
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— Phillip Swann