they should of done more and let all packages see it and would of liked DirecTV to seen NHL Hockey playoffs in 4K
They would have needed the Leafs to make the Playoffs for that to happen. Thus they wrote that off in November.
The Leafs are the only NHL team to have their arena
fully set-up for 4k (through Rogers/Sportsnet). I expect 4k to take off next NHL season though, but the question is, will the likes of NBC Sports push for this, or do we have to rely on the NHL network borrowing Canadian feeds and sending them to US markets? (Much like the do with Hockey Night in Canada).
You have to consider many of the NHL arenas are used for multiple sports by multiple networks. For instance, in Boston, you have the Bruins and the Celtics. Regionally one is on NESN, one is on CSNNE. Then you have national broadcasters of the Bruins games (NBCSN and NBC (OTA considerations here)), national broadcasters of the Celtics (ESPN & TNT). This make changing infrastructure a complicated process when it comes to who pays for it, and how it all works on these separate systems. Can you wire a building for 4k, with cameras, and have it work with possibly 6 different networks production systems? And again who pays for all this?
In Toronto, Rogers (TV Provider) owns Sportsnet (the network), and broadcasts/produces both Raptors and Maple Leafs games (exclusivelyish?). Very easy for them to get them ball rolling on 4k. Not to mention The Maple Leafs are the richest team in all of hockey.
Similarly, I would guess MLB is fronting all the money to get 4k set-up for these baseball games, and treating it like a roadshow. They are broadcasting these "from their network" (MLB Network) because they have the rights to do so. Direct TV is more than happy to distribute this, and basically no other US broadcaster can (yet).
This all ties back to my hunch that Cable/Sat exclusive networks are going to (already are) leading the push for 4k.
OTA broadcasters will likely need to be dragged into 4k (remember the mandate anyone?) but cable/sat networks are glad to pass them by and push better tech. Direct TV has proved they will show whatever you give us in 4k (Masters & MLB) but it's up to the networks the produce this content in 4k for Direct to broadcast. Cable/sat networks are much easier to pivot (ESPN) than the convoluted OTA/Affiliate set-up.
