Will the Chiefs-Bills Game Air In 4K?

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Follow me on X

TV Answer Man, will CBS have the AFC Championship game between the Bills and Chiefs in 4K. I know they did the Super Bowl in 4K so how about this game? – Marshall, Topeka, Kansas.

Marshall, CBS and Paramount Plus will air Sunday’s (January 26) AFC Championship Game between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs with kickoff scheduled shortly after 6:30 p.m. ET. The winner will advance to the Super Bowl to play the winner of tomorrow’s NFC Championship Game between the Washington Commanders and Philadelphia Eagles.

So with such an important game on CBS, will the network offer a 4K feed as well as the regular HD broadcast?

Answer: No.

Why Won’t CBS Do the Bills-Chiefs Game In 4K?

CBS has not offered an official reason for the 4K snub, but the network has not been bullish on producing live sporting events in the format due to the extra production and labor costs required. Last year’s Super Bowl was CBS’ only 4K broadcast of an NFL game to date and the network has only done the March Madness college basketball tournament in 4K once. It has never done any regular season basketball in 4K, but it has offered 4K feeds of The Masters golf tournament to DIRECTV.

The good news is that Fox will do an upscaled 4K broadcast of the Commanders-Eagles game. The 4K feed can be seen on the Fox Sports app by logging in with your TV Everywhere user name and password from your pay TV provider. (Note that the Fox Now app is no longer available.)

The pay TV services that are expected to carry the NFC Championship in 4K on special 4K channels are DIRECTV, Dish, Sling TV, Comcast, Verizon, Optimum, DIRECTV Stream, YouTube TV, and FuboTV. (In FuboTV markets where the Fox affiliate is provided with your programming package.) Check your on-screen guide for more details.

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

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The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered television for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.