With Major League Baseball's 2019 postseason reaching its semifinal round, the sport's television partners are upping their technological game to bring viewers closer to the action.
FOX Sports and TBS (US) are employing new cameras and enhanced audio with their coverage, some of which will be viewable in 4K HDR. Meanwhile, NTT DATA Corp., the first Japanese company to be an MLB sponsor in the U.S., recently previewed what games could like in the years ahead with a test of its ultra reality viewing technology during an American League Division Series contest.
Beginning with FOX (US)'s Game 1 coverage on Oct. 12 and continuing on FOX Sports 1 (US), FOX Sports will present all of the contests in the American League Championship Series and the World Series in 4K HDR, which offers four times the pixel resolution of standard high-definition TV and enhanced contrast between light and dark images.
Brad Cheney, vice president of FOX Sports field operations and engineering, said in an interview that the contrasts will be particularly evident during night games. "We now have the ability to see the lowest of lows and the highest of highs in the same picture," he said. "In the past, we had to choose the better shot, whether in the shadow or the light. Now, viewers can get a look at what it's really like at the ballpark."
FOX Sports also has used the 4K HDR format for "Thursday Night Football" and the U.S. Open golf championships.
The MLB playoffs game will originate in 1080p HDR and subsequently be up-converted to 4K HDR. The high-resolution coverage is available through FOX Sports and FOX NOW apps on Apple TV 4K, DIRECTV, Altice USA Inc.'s Optimum systems, Verizon Communications Inc.'s FiOS TV, fuboTV Inc. and select Roku Inc. devices.
FOX Sports also plans to provide 4D replays via multiple camera views at home plate, first and third base during the World Series. "We not only want to get viewers as up close as possible but give the umpires multiple angles to help them make crucial calls," Cheney said.
After deployment of FlyCam — a system through which a camera tracks above the venue — at the All-Star Game, FOX will deploy it again at the World Series to deliver sweeping views of the entire stadium, as well as vistas from the ground level via multiple DirtCams, or equipment installed slightly below the infield playing surface.
While FOX Sports is still looking to connect with a sponsor for its enhanced World Series coverage, Turner is working with T-Mobile US Inc., MLB's official wireless sponsor, on an extended coverage feature it unveiled this postseason.
The new sponsored coverage affords viewers an additional look as a small screen drops down from TBS' on-air score box. In some early uses, the second screen displayed a close-up of a base-runner. It also captured reactions in the stands, such as showing the mother of St. Louis hurler Jack Flaherty watching her son pitch. The feature will be on display again for the National League Championship Series.
Like FOX Sports, TBS has increased its audio capacity. TBS is also tapping high frame rate "phantom cams" from low positions along the baselines to better capture swings and pitching follow-throughs.
At ALDS Game 3 between Houston and Tampa Bay at Tropicana Field on Oct. 7, MLB sponsor NTT delivered a proof of concept of its ultra reality viewing technology.
NTT installed multiple 4K cameras around the domed stadium that transmitted high-definition images, 12K wide, in real time to a super-wide screen at MLB Network (US)'s studio, where enterprise partners watched the augmented production. In future seasons, ultra reality views may be included within national and regional baseball telecasts, or via digital platforms.
The Astros-Rays game marked the second proof-of-concept telecast for the technology: MLB said NTT shot an Arizona Fall League game between Hermosillo and Salt River in the format on Sept. 24 at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Ariz.
