No 4K NBA Finals?

My guess is covid and costs...

I'll post a link to another thread where this was discussed


There was a similar discussion here :

4K Live Sports and Events Schedule - Updated 7/26/2020


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Yeah at this point we should just be happy to have sports back on television period. 4K costs alot and I also am guessing the cost may have something to do with it right now and The Pandemic.

 

From my own memory ESPN hasn't even sent out any events in 4K for providers to use.

 

There were a few college football games in espn 4K . Also 1 or 2 college basketball games before covid. I remember watching Duke, UNC in 4K

I think the championship with LSU was an ESPN 4k
event

Samsung & ESPN Present ESPN’s First Live Native 4K Sports Telecasts - ESPN Press Room U.S.

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There has been at least 5 college football games in 4k on ESPN including a BCS bowl game and the national championship. And 4 or 5 college basketball games in 4k. Their 4K was actually native 4k and not upscaled so it looked better than some of the other 4k broadcasts I've seen. But they did not have HDR but did have audio in Dolby Atmos.

 

You would think being all the games were in the bubble in Orlando and it doesn't move locations it would be easier to setup. Maybe they don't trust the robot cameraman with them.

 

I would have though so too, would be easier to have 4k equipment in a bubble . But as mentioned in the link above ... cost is a major factor.

How long did we NOT have sports months. Until I read that thread I wouldn't have thought to think of the lost $ the network had during those months without sports.

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The problem is having to double the production staff in the bubble. The 4K production trucks don't have all the replay and overlay graphics capabilities yet, so all the 4K native broadcasts have been an "add on" to the traditional TV broadcast. So that's a 2nd set of cameras, a 2nd broadcast truck per game, and uplink center staff to deal with the 2nd broadcast.

The closest they could have done is mirror what FOX did for the Superbowl and produce a master broadcast in 1080p, with all the features needed for a standard live broadcast, then downrez that to 720P to air on native ESPN/ABC and offer an upscaled 4k broadcast version.

So the earlier comment on "costs and covid" is spot on. Doubling the staff for a native 4k broadcast just increases the number of people to be tested, and adds more moving parts to the "bubble." Advertising revenue plummeting almost certainly sealed the deal.

 

I actually forgot about them having college football games in 4K. I will take back what I said earlier. Sorry.