Q. TV Answer Man, I have DIRECTV and I subscribed to the NFL Sunday Ticket this weekend for the first time since I got the dish four years ago. I am very excited about watching the Baltimore Ravens games. (We used to live in Baltimore.) Do you know if any of the Sunday Ticket games will be in 4K, particularly the Ravens games? — Sammy, Cincinnati.

Sammy, congratulations on getting the NFL Sunday Ticket for the first time. As you probably know, DIRECTV’s base Ticket plan, which provides all Sunday afternoon out-of-market regular season games, is $293 for the entire season while the Max package, which also includes the RedZone channel and a Fantasy channel, is $395.

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

Could this change for the 2022 season?

Maybe.

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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.

However, with the regular season less a month away, Fox has not announced it will provide any regular season games in 4K so I’m not very hopeful.

If the network (or CBS) does any make an 4K announcements, the TV Answer Man will offer an update here.

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

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— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman