The Super Bowl is streaming in 4K this year, and Amazon said that its Fire TV lineup is Fox’s preferred devices for the event.
For the first time ever, the Super Bowl is being streaming in 4K resolution through the Fox Sports app. That means the stream will be available on other devices, including Apple TV and Roku. However, Amazon, which last year got 4K streaming support for its version of the Fox Sports app, is the “preferred” partner.
“We’re excited that Fire TV is FOX’s preferred 4K streaming device for the Super Bowl. We have so many great 4K devices for customers to choose from, and this Super Bowl is shaping up to be one of the most exciting,” said Matt Clark, Amazon Fire TV’s head of business development, in a statement. “We’re seeing incredible momentum in streaming and recently announced that Fire TV has more than 40 million active users.”
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Amazon Fire TV Stick and Cube both have models that support 4K playback. Toshiba and Insignia also sell 4K Fire TV Edition smart TVs.
In December, Fox Sports executives confirmed the network’s plans to produce this year’s Super Bowl in 1080p HDR, and to offer an upconverted Ultra HD stream.
Michael Davies, senior vice president of field and technical operations for Fox Sports, said there are some valid technical reasons why Fox isn’t streaming the Super Bowl in native 4K. He said that most TVs currently display video at 1080p and 60 frames per second so an upconverted stream won’t blur as much as a true 4K stream, which could cause more motion blur.