Q. TV Answer Man, I read your story on DIRECTV showing Extra Innings games in 4K. Do they do the same thing for Sunday Ticket games? Are they in 4K? — Eddie, Evanston, Illinois. 

Eddie, DIRECTV allows out-of-market MLB Extra Innings subscribers to watch the regional 4K broadcasts of the home games of three teams: Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox. For example, if SportsNet LA is doing a Dodgers game in 4K in the LA market, an Extra Innings subscriber in Evanston, Illinois could watch it in 4K as well.

DIRECTV also offers regional Los Angeles Lakers and Denver Nuggets 4K feeds to out-of-market NBA League Pass subscribers.

Now to your question: NFL Sunday Ticket games have never been available in 4K, only high-def. This is not DIRECTV’s decision, however. The satcaster can only air a live sporting event in 4K if it’s offered in that format by the network that’s broadcasting it. And to date, neither Fox nor CBS have ever produced a single NFL Sunday afternoon regular season game in 4K. (The Sunday Ticket package only includes out-of-market Sunday afternoon games broadcast by CBS and Fox.)

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Could this change for the 2022 season?

Yes.

Fox has produced Thursday Night Football NFL games in 4K as well as some playoff games. It’s possible that Fox will offer some 4K coverage of Sunday afternoon games this fall, particularly now that Amazon Prime Video will be the exclusive home of Thursday Night Football. The network won’t have any other way to provide 4K during the 2022 regular season unless it does some games on Sunday. And if it offers any Sunday games in 4K, DIRECTV will likely carry them in the format for its Sunday Ticket subscribers.

The TV Answer Man will monitor this situation and report back here if anything changes.

Eddie, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!

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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman