TV Answer Man, I bought a 4K TV last year but I don’t know why. I love sports but it doesn’t seem like there is much sports in 4K. The NFL isn’t in 4K, right? What about college football? Are there any college games in 4K? Can you please inform me? — Dale, Plano, Texas.
Dale, I understand your frustration and many 4K TV owners share it. The number of live sporting events in the format is relatively few compared to the number in high-def. (And, yes, there are no NFL games this weekend in 4K.)
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But I am happy to report that there will be four college football games in 4K (from 3 different networks) on Saturday. And here they are. (All times Eastern.)
Noon — Top-rated Alabama plays Texas. 4K HDR (High Dynamic Range)
The Fox Sports app will stream the game in 4K HDR, but you can also find it on special 4K channels on various TV providers. See link for details.
2:30 p.m. — Marshall vs. Notre Dame. 4K
DIRECTV and YouTube TV will offer the NBC game on special 4K channels; it will not be available in 4K on Peacock or the NBC Sports app. See link for details.
3:30 p.m. — Washington State vs. Wisconsin. 4K HDR
The Fox Sports app will stream the game in 4K HDR, but you can also find it on special 4K channels on various TV providers. See link for details.
10:15 p.m. — Baylor vs. BYU. Native 4K
ESPN will broadcast the game in 4K which will be available in the format on special 4K channels on DIRECTV, Verizon, YouTube TV and Comcast. The 4K production will be ‘native 4K,’ meaning ESPN produces the event in 4K as well as transmits it to the home in 4K. See link for details.
In addition, providers such as YouTube TV, FuboTV and DIRECTV will show Saturday’s 7:30 a.m. ET English Premier League soccer game between Fullham and Chelsea in 4K. (Update: The EPL game has been postponed due to the death of Queen Elizabeth.)
So while it isn’t the NFL, Dale, Saturday will at least provide some action in 4K.
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
I just loaded up the YouTube TV guide for tomorrow and indeed their are four football games in 4K (the ones mentioned in the article). In addition, YTTV is carrying the mentioned soccer game and also the New York Yankees game against the Milwaukee Brewers on the MLB 4K channel. Quite a day for 4K on YTTV!
Unfortunately, I confirmed during the Saturday games that YouTube TV is not streaming them in 4K, despite them being labeled as “4K’ in the top-right corner of the screen. Both the Baylor/BYU game and Alabama/UT game show in the “stats for nerds” as being delivered as 1080P@60Hz with a bitrate of about 28Kbps (and zero lost frames) even though the stats show it knew my viewport was 2160P. I went to YTTVs library of existing 4K content and selected an available show and it effortlessly streamed at 2160P@30Hz with a bitrate of about 80Kbps. This second test demonstrates that my hard-wired Ethernet connection to the TV is able to deliver 2160P (all with zero dropped frames). For some reason, they didn’t deliver these games in 4K, despite the labeling. Still, the picture quality was excellent and clearly better than any other games I watched. But it’s not 4K for some reason.
I was wrong- the games are broadcast in 4K. I was suffering an equipment issue because my Apple TV box was incapable of display 4K @ 60fps. The new (2021) Apple TV box supports 4K @ 60fps and voila, the games are now playing in 4K. The old Apple TV 4K box only supports 4K @ 30fps which causes it to choose the next lowest supported resolution: 1080P @ 60fps, thus confusing me. Sorry for the incorrect information.