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AT&T is taking a swing at the first live 4K broadcast in the Untied States during its coverage of the Masters next month.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) will launch its DirecTV 4K channel ahead of its live broadcast of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club April 7-10. The 4K channel will also include additional content from Audience Network.
The 4K coverage will broadcast the Master's famous Amen Corner feed, which includes parts of the 11th, 12th and 13th holes at Augusta. (Alas, it looks like there will be no Tiger stalking the greens in 4K this year at Augusta, but Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Ricky Fowler will loom large.)
In order to watch the pros tee off in four times the resolution of HDTV, AT&T customers need to subscribe to the DirecTV Ultimate and Premier tiers that are part of the DirecTV 4K channel.
On the hardware front, viewers will also need AT&T's latest Genie HD DVR, as well as 4K-compatible TVs that are connected to the newest 4K Genie Mini.
AT&T said its golf coverage of the Masters, which includes four rounds, would be the first live 4K Ultra High Definition (UHD) broadcast in the US. While AT&T is laying claim to being the first service provider in the US to broadcast live sports in 4K, Rogers Communications Inc. (Toronto: RCI) was the first in North America. (See Sports in 4K, It's Coming.)
Prior to its purchase by AT&T, DirecTV was the first multichannel video provider to deliver 4K on demand two years ago. Other contenders in the 4K playing field include Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) and Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX).
— Mike Robuck, editor, Telco Transformation
