BOSTON — NESN announced that all home Red Sox games will be broadcast in native UHD/HDR (“4K/HDR”) format beginning Tuesday for viewers on DIRECTV and Verizon Fios and coming soon for fuboTV customers. The 4K/HDR schedule will feature all home game matchups for the remainder of the 2022 season. These games mark the first time that an RSN is broadcasting MLB games in native 4K/HDR.
“We are proud of our history of innovation and excited to be the first RSN in the country to produce home games in native 4K/HDR,” NESN President and CEO Sean McGrail said. “With the introduction of 4K/HDR, Red Sox fans will be able to experience the game in stunning clarity and color and have an unprecedented view of the action.”
“We’ve been planning for this achievement for several years,” NESN VP of Engineering Kenny Elcock said. “This is no small feat, but rather a technical marvel. It’s been fantastic working with Game Creek Video, Imagine Communications, Lumen, Programming Production, Inc. (PPI) and The Switch.”
NESN has a history of leading the cable programming industry in adopting new innovations. The network was the first regional sports network to fully automate studio production in 2015 and the first to deliver all professional MLB and NHL games in HD.
Recently, NESN moved all satellite transmission to fiber and IP transmission in order to better position the network for 4K capabilities. In addition, NESN upgraded and completely renovated its state-of-the-art pre and postgame studio, Salem Five Studio, to be fully 4K/HDR compatible.
About 4K/HDR:
— 4K/HDR has a resolution of 4096 x 2160 pixels, UHD has a resolution of 3840 x 2160
— UHD (3840 x 2160) is for television broadcast and supports all new consumer devices with an aspect ratio of 16:9 (1.77:1)
— When 4K content is played on a UHD display, extra pixels are either cut-off by the TV’s software, or you get black bars on the top and bottom of the screen to maintain the 16:9 ratio.
Fans can watch home games in 4K/HDR through leading TV video providers DIRECTV, fuboTV and Verizon Fios, who will be broadcasting NESN’s 4K/HDR telecasts on new specific channels. DIRECTV’s 4K channel will be channel 105 to 108 and Verizon Fios 4K channel will be channel 1494. For more information on the 4K/HDR distributors and how to access the games, visit www.NESN.com/4K.
About NESN
NESN is consistently one of the top-rated regional sports networks in the country with award-winning Red Sox and Bruins coverage. NESN and NESN+ are delivered throughout the six-state New England region and are available anytime, anywhere, on any device on the NESN app and at NESN.com. The network is also distributed nationally as NESN National. NESN.com is one of the country’s most-visited sports websites, with dedicated digital video productions and always-on news coverage. NESN’s social responsibility program, NESN Connects, is proud to support and connect its employees with charitable organizations in the Greater Boston community. NESN is owned by Fenway Sports Group (owners of the Boston Red Sox) and Delaware North (owners of the Boston Bruins). Follow @NESN on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date on the latest New England sports news.
