Sports in 4K. Why no progress?

@user_krudze​ Though 1080p is better than 720, once you've seen properly broadcasted native 4K, you'll never want to watch a pro sports game in anything else. The people in the crowds suddenly become more than little fuzzy blips on the screen, they become people. Names on the players jerseys become visible so you can actually tell who they are instead of a number that you may not know or remember. The technology not only has existed for some time now, it is readily available in Europe, South Korea, (Japan is even testing out an 8K system now), and various other places in the world. We are a third world country in that respect. Time for this to change. It might help is Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and all the other manufacturers phase out 720/1080 equipment and only start producing 4 and 8K cameras/production equipment for the professional market. Until then we should really boycott the purchase of their 4/8K TV's (and tell them why, because of the lack of cooperation from broadcasters), and why they should pull all their advertising from the providers that don't keep up with today's technology.

@BIslander​ Virtually EVERY English Premier League soccer game is produced in NATIVE 4K by Sky Sports (ALSO A COMCAST COMPANY!), so all they have to do is port the signal over here to America. BUT NO! Even when it won't cost them a cent in production cost or in personnel for commentary (they could just port the audio feed from the British sportscasters too), they don't. I've even investigated using a VPN to get a British IP for watching purposes (however the problem is trying to get an account with Sky Sports in the UK). NBC Sports 4K (a Comcast company), will cover one or two games a week here in the US using their feed (I've seen it when I had YouTube TV and the difference is tremendous), but Xfinity doesn't even do that. We need a few DEDICATED NATIVE 4K channels like other providers have. If they say the lack of bandwidth is the problem, they can easily drop the 50-60+ or so standard definition channels that have HD counterparts (virtually every TV now can watch at very least HD), and viola, there's the bandwidth for 15+ 4K channels. That's why I'm ticked off at Xfinity and will push for my HOA to drop them if they don't act by the end of 2024.

Like I said, Xfinity could do better.  You seem to have a passion for EPL and it would be great if Xfinity provided the 4K coverage.  Perhaps you should switch to a service that has it.   But, soccer is not that significant for most US sports fans.  And the lack of 4K production for the major sports is a much bigger deal than Xfinity's failure to carry EPL 4K.

I’m just using EPL soccer as an example of something that’s already available in native 4K to Xfinity, without any increased expenditures by the company. Though it would cost them very little to retransmit on Xfinity, they’re not doing it. Comcast is also a producer of material through NBC and other production companies, like Sky Sports, ergo control what’s being produced too. There’s an old adage that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, which is why private messaging with Xfinity is counterproductive. Other major leagues like the NHL and MLB have some 4K production equipment currently in place, and it would be great if Xfinity would carry that too. I understand that the NFL is probably the most popular sport and Comcast has the power to bring it to the consumer in native 4K format, but has not deemed it worthy of doing so. Until there’s a ground swell of demand, Comcast won’t make the necessary expenditures to bring its system into the 21st-century and that’s why I’m on here. I hope that others will show them that their foot dragging regarding this technology, that is well established with a majority of their customers, not only benefits their customers, but is in the interest of Xfinity to maintain and to expand their custom base. 

@XfinityKrista​ Is there something about the user's inquiry that can be improved by a private conversation.  The rest of us would love to hear anything about expanded Xfinity 4K sports coverage.

@XfinityKrista​ Unless you're willing to transmit this thread to top management at Xfinity, nothing will be done. We've seen the regression of the progress toward UHD TV, especially in the realm of sports broadcasting by American companies, of which Comcast is a significant part of. They should know that if they won't give us the content that we want, then we'll push for other companies to do so and shift our $$$ to paying them for it. NFL, NHL, NBA, etc. should all demand that their games be given the best technology that's commonly available for their product, especially if they want to grow their businesses in the future or lose them to other products that will.

I suspect they'll be doing the usual "troubleshooting" about how to receive 4K, which is clearly not relevant in this situation.  Then the inquiry will drop off the first page without ever being addressed.  

And, here we are, with the thread off the first page of posts with nothing from Xfinity on the subject of limited 4K sports content. 

@billmich88888​ Peacock isn’t doing squat about broadcasting their sports in native 4K. Last year a vice president announced that they would be carrying Premium League English soccer games in native 4K for the 23/24 season. Opening day rolled around and NADA! Many people inquired about what was going on, all they had to do was retransmit the Comcast (Sky Sports) signal like NBC Sports 4K channel was doing, or even just carry the latter channel on their service as a stopgap. They did neither. Then they reneged on their promise. At that point I dropped Peacock and won’t pay for the service until they do. Hopefully this is followed with NHL, MLB and other leagues (but given their history I’m not hopeful unless we band together and make it more profitable for them to acquiesce rather than to fight it). 

Hello @user_gwn5ap ! We do keep an eye out on the community forums for feedback and appreciate everyone's enthusiasm for 4K Sports! We are always looking to improve service and add more features and content that our valuable customers want. I have no news or updates about this subject, but it is seen and will be passed along to the appropriate folks! Thanks for your input everyone!

@XfinityFrank Thanks for the update. 

@XfinityFrank​ Has there been any feedback on getting at least 2 or 3 full time native 4K cable channels for Xfinity, (like ported Sky Sports Ultra from the UK, or NBC Sports 4K channel). That way at least we have a couple of channels which will be showing whatever programming that might be available on a scanning of the listings. Also when sporting events were not scheduled perhaps replays of previous weeks games could be watched or even other native 4K shows (sports or other) to give viewers a chance to see why the people should be demanding it given the cost of Xfinity service. There IS native 4K content out there Xfinity just needs to make a modicum of effort to think of the benefit to both customers and company in the long term. Please let us know who is making these decisions and when we might hear and hopefully see that Xfinity gives a half damn about the people who still haven’t abandoned cable but who might be teetering off the edge before they jump to a more responsive media format. 

Hi there @user_e3c854!  Thanks so much for taking the time to voice your service concerns here on our Community Forum.  We are so glad to help in any way that we can.  While at the moment, our 4K content is limited due to certain networks not broadcasting in 4K, I can assure you that we here are always looking for ways to improve your viewing experience.  

Hello @user_e3c854. Broadcasting in 4k is limited to the company and networks. This also has to deal with bandwidth, cost and production. With Xfinitys next generation 10g network, we are upgrading our infrastructure to bring out customers the latest and greatest viewing experience. 

@XfinityWilliam​ Yes and all of the networks I've mentioned have been Comcast owned, so Xfinity would come under that umbrella. As for bandwidth there are many HD channels that have DUPLICATES and many SD channels that could be eliminated due to having HD counterparts that virtually every TV that's operational at this point in time can receive. Yes there are a few channels like NESN that does NHL 4K games in Boston, you'd have to negotiate that one) (Chicago Blackhawks have NBC 4K coverage, ergo Comcast), and the NBA has 4K games out of LA and Chicago (again I believe Chicago is NBC and not sure about LA). As for production all of these 99% of the production is already done by NBC Sports or Sky Sports in the UK for the EPL games on NBC sports 4K, (also Comcast). So expenditures would be minimal and bandwidth is completely solvable with the action of just eliminating a few of the duplicate HD channels (in the 1000-1400 range), to make 2 or 3 UHD channels with plenty left over. Again just by porting ONE DEDICATED CHANNEL of the NBC Sports 4K could placate us into waiting for the 10G service whenever that arrives.

But I'm sure you know this already. If top management is the problem here, kindly just say so and I'll try to solve this with the HOA and the 500 homes that would hopefully approve the measure to get more 4K. Thank you for your response.

@user_e3c854​ Probably best to proceed with the plan to switch your HOA to Direct TV.  Action generally speaks much louder than threats to act.  Switching won't help you with Xfinity, but it could nudge action that benefits those of us who remain with them.  

Reaching out to your HOA would be a good idea if this is something that occurs regularly to get things adjusted @user_e3x854.  

Just thought I'd give Xfinity a chance to "right the ship", and actually deliver what the advertisements say that you offer. Guess that is my next stop. That and inviting competing companies to give their demos during the next meeting.

We do appreciate your @user_e3c854. We don't have any updates to provide at this time regarding the plans to expand 4K content for sports or other networks. We'll be sure to reach out to everyone as we get more news on this. 

Yes, the CBS 4K HDR feed of the Super Bowl is a 1080p upconvert.  This is the first 4K event for CBS, so we'll see how it compares to Fox.  

While there's been no official release from Xfinity yet, the game is showing up as 4K on my XG1v4 boxes.  Last year, Xfinity did its own Dolby Vision output on top of the Fox 4K HDR for Xi6 boxes.  But, no word on whether that will happen again this year with CBS.

Today’s Blackhawks home game is being shot in 4K too bad they don’t see fit to show it that way……get on the ball Xfinity!