DirecTV’s first scheduled live coverage of a Major League Baseball game in 4K last Friday was scuttled due to a “technical issue” with a production truck.
DirecTV, acquired by AT&T last July, was originally scheduled to show the April 15 matchup between the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and was to be the first of 25 MLB games to be shown in the eye-popping format during the regular season.
"While the game was available to our customers in HD on MLB Network, we needed to cancel the 4K broadcast due to a technical issue with a third party's field production truck,” AT&T/DirecTV told TV Predictions (AT&T supplied the same statement to Multichannel News on Monday), which also found that DirecTV subs who were capable of receiving those signals took to Twitter to vent their frustration. “The signal was not up to our high standards and we are continuing our testing to ensure we deliver a flawless 4K viewing experience. If viewers were inconvenienced, we certainly apologize."
The next baseball game on DirecTV’s 4K MLB schedule is the Tuesday night (April 19) tilt between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinal. If all goes well this time, the 4K feed will be offered on DirecTV channel 106. DirecTV and AT&T have been asked if all systems are go for tomorrow night's scheduled 4K broadcast.
DirecTV’s 4K games follow its launch of three channels dedicated to 4K. To access them, DirecTV subs will need a Genie HD DVR (model HR54) or later and a 4K Genie Mini if they do not own a “DirecTV Ready” 4K TV. They’ll also need to spring for a professional install, which runs $50, and must be on the provider’s Ultimate or Premiere package.
