LOS ANGELES—It’s October, meaning it is time for some playoff baseball. Fox Sports will once again be in charge of bringing much of the playoff action to fans, including the American League Championship Series, which the network says will be available in 4K HDR for the first time.
This is the second major sporting event that Fox Sports has announced it would be offering in 4K HDR, following the network’s first Thursday Night Football game of the NFL season on Thursday, Sept. 26. However, there were issues with the broadcast that led many fans and services not able to access the game in 4K HDR. That is not detering Fox Sports now, who will have until Oct. 12 to prepare for the first game of the ALCS.
The 4K HDR offering will be available through the Fox Sports and FOX NOW apps, using Apple TV 4K and 4K capable Roku devices. The 4K broadcast will also be available through certain Fox Sports distributors, including DirecTV, Altice Optimum, Verizon Fios, TVision and fuboTV.
In addition, Fox Sports has announced a number of other production technologies that it will feature during the broadcasts. Fox will work with Sony Broadcast to have an 8K Sony HDR camera for World Series games; there will be multiple Fox Sports “Dirt Cams” placed in the infield; a point-to-point FlyCam system, which debuted at this year’s All-Star Game, for select World Series games; 4D replay that utilizes more than 30 cameras around home plate; and Virtual Eye 3D rendering along with MLB Pitchtrax and MLB Statcast tracking data to display the flight of balls.
Fox Sports will also have two sets of five mobile production units that will be strategically placed around the country to make it easier for the broadcast to be setup in time for games as they go from city to city.
Fox Sports coverage of the 2019 MLB Postseason begins on Friday, Oct. 4, with the ALDS on FS1.
