DirecTV Offers
DirecTV will be adding more live 4K sports to their offering. They will be delivering coverage of the World Series of Beach Volleyball in pixel packed 4K resolutions, from Long Beach, California. The tournament will be telecasted on channel number 106. The coverage schedule is listed below.
- Friday, Aug. 26 from 08:30 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. ET: Women’s quarterfinals #1 and #2
- Saturday, Aug. 27 from 03:00 p.m. – 04:30 p.m. ET: Women’s semi-finals #1
- Saturday, Aug. 27 from 07:30 p.m. – 09:30 p.m.: Women’s semi-finals #1, and men’s semi-finals #1
- Sunday, Aug. 28 from 04:30 p.m. – 06:00 p.m.: Women’s finals
- Sunday, Aug. 28 from 06:30 p.m. to 08:00 p.m. – Men’s finals
DirecTV, which is now part of AT&T, had launched three dedicated 4K channels last year. John Ward, senior VP of content operations in AT&T, said in his blog that they are working harder to be better. He also added that they would make use of the newest technologies to “tell a better story.”
4K Channels
He said that DirecTV has broadcasted more than 500 hours of sports in 4K resolution, most of the broadcast being live. The broadcasts include the coverage of events like UFC Bouts, The Masters, and some of NBC’s coverage from the Summer Olympics in Rio. However, the broadcast of Summer Olympics was not offered live but with a one-day transmission delay. They have also telecasted several MLB matchups.
Ward has also shared some technical facts about 4K resolutions. He has said that an hour of video in 4K format is equal to 400 or 500 gigabytes of data and that DirecTV makes use of a mix of satellite transmission and fiber optic technologies from each of the events to offer video in IP.
He also added that AT&T makes use of eight to fourteen cameras that can capture video in 4K format. The number of cameras will depend on the size of the event to be covered. An average game of baseball in 4K resolution can take up about two terabytes of storage, or up to 500 GBs per hour, Ward added.
