DirecTV, Fox Sports Rev Up Plans for First-Ever NASCAR 4K Production

The NASCAR 4K production comes on the heels of Fox Sports and DirecTV's two 4K college basketball telecasts last month.

AT&T’s DirecTV announced it will deliver the first NASCAR race ever in 4K on Apri 2, when it teams with Fox Sports to produce and televise the Monster Energy Cup from Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, VA. The race, which begins at 2 p.m. ET, will be available in 4K on DirecTV’s live 4K channel, channel 106.

Game Creek Video’s new IP-based truck Yogi will serve the Fox Sports-DirecTV 4K Production at Martinsville Speedway.

Fox’s 4K production of NASCAR at Martinsville Speedway for DirecTV will utilize Game Creek Video’s new IP-based truck, Yogi, which will primarily serve YES Network upon launch. Yogi follows in the steps of Game Creek’s first IP-based mobile unit, Encore, which rolled out in 2015.

The NASCAR telecast marks the latest property to be made available in 4K as part of a broader distribution agreement announced by AT&T and Fox Networks Group in November. As part of that partnership, Fox Sports and DirecTV teamed up to produce two 4K college basketball telecasts last month. In addition to NASCAR and college basketball, Fox and DirecTV also plan to produce MLB regular-season and playoff games and college football games in 4K.

Separately, DirecTV has also announced its lineup of MLB Network Showcase games games to produced in 4K. MLBN’s slate of 4K games will build upon last year’s 22 MLB Network Showcase 4K telecasts on DirecTV – the first series of weekly U.S. sporting events to be produced in 4K (which utilized Game Creek’s RiverHawk truck). 

DirecTV’s 4K MLB slate is as follows:
April 4: Cubs @ Cards
April 12: Dodgers @ Cubs
April 21: Nationals @ Mets
April 27: Yankees @ Red Sox
April 28: Cubs @ Red Sox

In addition, DirecTV announced its upcoming slate 4K NBA games:
March 17: Orlando @ Phoenix (10pm ET)
March 23: Toronto @ Miami (7:30pm ET)
March 29: Oklahoma City @ Orlando (7pm ET)
April 11: Oklahoma City @ Minnesota (8pm ET)

To view the these 4K UHD telecasts, DirecTV subscribers will need a Genie HD DVR (model HR54 or later) and a DirecTV 4K-Ready TV or a 4K TV connected to a 4K Genie Mini. According to The TV Answer Man Phillip Swan, DirecTV recently changed the minimum package required to get its live 4K channel to Select so more subscribers could access it as well as the satcaster’s two other 4K channels, which are devoted to recurring programming and Video on Demand.

Stay tuned to Sportsvideo.org for more in-depth coverage of DirecTV and Fox Sports’ 4K NASCAR production plans.