TV Answer Man, it seems like there’s less and less in 4K these days, especially with sports. Do you know if NBC will do Notre Dame games in 4K this college football season. I’m not taking anything for granted. — Bert, Indianapolis.
Bert, I feel your pain. Fox has only done one regular season MLB game in 4K this season and the network has yet to announce if it will do any NFL games in the format during the 2022 campaign. We also haven’t heard if ESPN will continue its college football ‘4K game of the week’ this fall and so on and so on. The lineup of live 4K sporting events does seem to get smaller all the time.
NBC today revealed its broadcast schedule for Notre Dame football in 2022 so I thought I would ask the network if it will continue providing the Fighting Irish’s home games in 4K.
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The network’s response: “Yes, all Notre Dame football games on NBC will be shown in 4K this season.”
NBC has provided home Notre Dame games in 4K for several years, but Bert is right that you can’t take anything for granted these days with the networks trimming costs in advance of a possible economic recession.
As for the 2022 Notre Dame games that will be in 4K via NBC, here they are:
| Sat., Sept. 10 | 2:30 p.m. | Marshall | NBC, Peacock |
| Sat., Sept. 17 | 2:30 p.m. | California | NBC, Peacock |
| Sat., Oct. 8 | 7:30 p.m. | BYU | NBC, Peacock |
| Sat., Oct. 15 | 7:30 p.m. | Stanford | NBC, Peacock |
| Sat., Oct. 22 | 2:30 p.m. | UNLV | Peacock (NOT 4K) |
| Sat., Nov. 5 | 7 p.m. | Clemson | NBC, Peacock |
| Sat., Nov. 19 | 2:30 p.m. | Boston College | NBC, Peacock |
Note that the Peacock exclusive game (Notre Dame vs. UNLV) will not be available in 4K. The streamer has yet to do a single live or scripted program in the format since its launch in 2020. But the six games on NBC will be in 4K (as well as high-def on network affiliates.)
And as for where you can watch the six Notre Dame games in 4K, DIRECTV and YouTube TV last year were the only pay TV services to offer them in the format and they are likely to do so again this year.
The two services aired the games in 4K on special 4K channels. Unlike Fox, NBC does not provide a 4K feed of live sporting events on its streaming app so there is no other way to watch the games in 4K besides watching them on a pay TV service.
Comcast offered Notre Dame football in 4K in 2020 but did not during the 2021 season. The cable operator did not offer a reason when asked why by The TV Answer Man.
Bert, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman
Are these games in 4k to be upscaled to 4k or shot in native 4k?
Upscaled.
?!?!? Isn’t that completely useless since 4K TV’s upscale all HD signals to 4K anyway? It’s putting lipstick on the pig.
screw the frightened irish! join a conference or shut down!
I hear you..the most overrated team every year…play scrub teams the when playoffd come around they get blown out…which is what Ohio st is going to do to those bums the 1 st game