TV Answer Man, I’ve been reading your 4K coverage. No one else seems to write about this which is unfortunate. My question for you is if you know if ESPN will have a 4K game this week. October 22? — Jerry, Portland. 

Jerry, ESPN has a college football feature called, ‘The 4K Game of the Week,’ although we learned a few weeks ago that the game of the week is not necessarily every week. The sports network actually will do just eight games of the 18-week college football season in 4K.

But you will get a 4K game this Saturday (October 22) and it will be bright and early. ESPN will broadcast the SMU vs. Cincinnati (21st ranked) game from Dallas’ Gerald J. Ford Stadium in beautiful ‘native 4K’ on participating pay TV services at noon ET. ESPN’s ‘Matchup Predictor’ says Cincinnati has a 60.1 percent chance of winning. The Bearcats are 5-1 while SMU’s Mustangs are 3-3.

The game will be simulcast in high-def on the main ESPN channel.

If you’re not familiar with the term, native 4K means that the game is produced in 4K on site as well as transmitted to the home in 4K. (In contrast, Fox produces its college football games in 1080p HD on site and then upscales it to 4K HDR for the home transmission. ESPN’s 4K games do not include HDR, also known as High Dynamic Range.)

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The ESPN 4K broadcast will be available on special 4K channels from select pay TV providers, including DIRECTV, Verizon, Comcast and YouTube TV. (Unlike Fox, ESPN does not provide a 4K stream on its app, ESPN+.)

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