Thursday Night Football: Will the Chiefs-Lions Be Available In 4K?
By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –@tvanswerman
TV Answer Man, I’m very excited about football coming back. Do you know if Thursday night’s opener between the Chiefs and Lions will be in 4K on Peacock or anywhere else? And thank you for your updates!! — Mark, Boulder, Colorado.
Mark, this is an exciting day with the 2023 NFL regular season kicking off with the Thursday Night Football clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions at 8:15 p.m. ET. The game will be available on NBC local affiliates and Peacock, the NBC-owned streaming service with plans starting at $5.99 a month. (Spectrum TV subs can get a free year of Peacock.) The game will be available in HD, of course, but will it also be available in 4K? NBC and Peacock recently started doing Big Ten college football games in 4K so it’s not an unreasonable question.
However, the answer is no. The Chiefs-Lions game will not be in 4K on either Peacock or any pay TV service. In fact, it doesn’t appear that any NFL games this season are scheduled for 4K whether they are on Fox, CBS, NBC, Amazon or ABC/ESPN. I understand how frustrating this is for 4K enthusiasts, particularly those who know that Fox, NBC and ESPN are doing college football games in the format. But the fact remains that the networks do not see the value in producing regular season NFL games in 4K. They believe that the 4K audience is a niche audience and will not help generate a significant increase in viewers or advertising. There are also significant logistical reasons for not doing NFL games in 4K, which you can read about here.
The glimmer of hope here is that YouTube has said it hopes to work with the networks and NFL to offer 4K games. Perhaps that will have an impact in the future. For now, though, no NFL in 4K.
Mark, 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
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Swanni,
Big college football fan here — much moreso than NFL. However, I have a question based on your story above.
Why do networks see the benefit in 4K college football but not the NFL?
I’m thrilled because I love CFB more, but I am curious on your take. Thanks!
Watching the game on Peacock the screen displays HDR. On NBC it doesn’t indicate HDR. Not sure if 4k or 1080p.
Xfinity is airing about 8 NFL games on Fox in 4K.
https://www.xfinity.com/hub/tv-video/4k-events-sports-and-more-on-xfinity
That’s from 2021.