Super Bowl 2022 won’t stream in 4K on NBC

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The Super Bowl will not be broadcast or streamed in 4K again in 2022, according to NBC Sports. This is the second year in a row that the big game won't be available with the higher level of picture quality.

The game won't be in 4K according to Dan Masonson.

NBC has never aired an NFL game in 4K or high definition before, even though it has hosted the Sunday Night Football game every week during the regular season. CBS doesn't produce any of its games in 4K, nor does it have Monday Night Football in 4K.

Fox Sports started broadcasting some of its Thursday Night Football games in 4K in the year of 2019. The only Super Bowl to date that has been broadcast in 4K is for Thursday night games, and its footage is upscaled to 4K for broadcast, rather than true.

There was some hope that NBC would be able to pull off Super Bowl LVI in 4K, given that the network has started to expand its 4K sport offers. The network plans to air large portions of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 4K, as well as last year's Tokyo Olympics, which had an extremely messy slate of 4K programming.

NBC doesn't have a 4K distribution method for the majority of fans, and last year's Olympic broadcasts were in 4K and HDR, but the 4K programming wasn't actually available in any of NBC's programming. The 4K broadcasts were limited to partners like Altice, Fubo TV, YouTube TV, and other cable and over-the-top service with 4K support. Coverage was limited to specific times in certain TV markets.

There are dozens of cameras and slow-motion shots for instant replays, as well as the graphics packages, which is why airing one of the biggest sports games of the year to the millions of fans who tune in is a huge undertaking.

If we are lucky, the Super Bowl LVII will be broadcast on Fox, which could return us to a 4K game day.