In the first of what it says will be many live sports events streamed in the Ultra High-Definition format, Sling TV will stream Tuesday night's Major League All-Star Game in 4K for free for "select" subscribers. 

The game, which will be broadcast live by Fox starting at 8 p.m. ET from Arlington, Texas, will be available in 4K to Sling Blue subscribers (and subscribers to the Sling Blue and Orange rollup tier) in 16 major markets, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. (A full list of available markets can be found here.)

And only big-DMA-residing, Sling TV Blue-tier-subscribing users of "select" Roku and Amazon Fire TV OTT devices will be able to access Sling TV's 4K coverage. (That list is available here.)

So yeah, 4K on Sling TV is a little limited to start, but it's a move in the right direction.

Sling TV said it will present other upcoming live sports events in 4K, including NBCUniversal's coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics on USA Network, as well as college and pro football games on FS1, ESPN and other networks. 

Sling TV lost 135,000 subscribers in the first quarter of this year and dropped below 2 million customers. Leading virtual MVPD competitors YouTube TV and Hulu + Live TV already offer limited 4K support. 

“With live sports now in 4K, we’re upping our game and giving fans front-row seats to every thrilling moment. Get ready to see your favorite sports like never before, with crystal-clear action that brings you right into the heart of the play," said Seth Van Sickel, senior VP of product and operations for Sling Video Services.

Fox Sports Films will continue its swings within the sports documentary genre with an FS1 special on baseball superstar Julio Rodriguez that will air tonight (July 16) after Fox’s coverage of Major League Baseball’s All-Star game. 

The documentary, Welcome to the J-Rod Show, follows the Seattle Mariners outfielder and 2022 American League Rookie of the Year from his roots in the Dominican Republic to his major-league debut. The documentary is part of Fox Sports’ strategy to develop original content to complement high-profile live sports events, VP of development and original programming Barry Nugent said. 

“We thought it would be great if we did a documentary on a guy who's just starting out but who is a leading face of the league,“ Nugent told Multichannel News. ”We’ll have this introduction to him and his career, and what we found is that the dude has an infectious way of loving baseball.”

Also Read: Sling TV Starts Free 4K Viewing With Tuesday’s MLB All-Star Game … in ‘Select’ Markets and on ‘Select’ Devices

Prior Fox Sports documentaries include The Game that Changed Everything: Yankees vs. Red Sox ‘04 ALCS, which debuted prior to the World Series last October, and I Am Kevin Harvick, a profile of the NASCAR driver and Fox analyst that aired on FS1 this past February after Fox’s Daytona 500 telecast. 

“We tend to target our films as shoulder programming for the big events that we have,” he said. “There’s no greater lead-in than the live events  that we have … it’s so exciting and so important for the subject.”

Along with tying in with marquee Fox Sports events, Nugent said the documentaries also benefit from having Fox Sports’ on-air talent participate. For the J-Rod documentary — executive-produced by Derek Jeter’s Cap 2 Productions — Fox MLB studio analyst and former Mariners great Alex Rodriguez talks about the emerging superstar.

Both Jeter and Rodriguez also appeared in the Yankees vs Red Sox ‘04 ALCS documentary, with the Yankees teammates speaking for the first time about the infamous series in which Boston defeated New York after trailing 3-0.  

“We would have only done [that documentary] if we could get the New York Yankees side of the story, because up to that point [Rodriguez] and Jeter had never talked about it because it was so heartbreaking to them,” he said. “With our documentaries, we’re trying to show a more intimate portrait both on and off the field.” 

Fox Sports is developing more documentaries that revolve around tentpole Fox Sports live events, Nugent said, including the Super Bowl in February and the network’s NASCAR coverage. “We bring in a certain number of people into the tent to watch the live event, so you want to have them stick around with more in-depth stories to tell on some of those subjects,” he said.  

As for Fox’s coverage of tonight’s 94th MLB All-Star Game, Joe Davis and John Smoltz will handle play-by-play and commentary, with Ken Rosenthal and Tom Verducci providing inside information and in-game reports from the field, Fox said. Fox will open its 25th broadcast of the Midsummer Classic with a pregame show hosted by Jeter, Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Kevin Burkhardt. 

Fox Sports and ESPN’s coverage of Major League Baseball All-Star festivities generated a ratings home run among last week’s live sports telecasts.  

Fox’s July 11 All-Star Game broadcast drew 7 million viewers to top all sports events for the week, according to Nielsen numbers published by SportsMedia Watch. The contest, won by the National League for its first victory over the American League since 2012, was the least-watched baseball All-Star game, dropping 7% from the previous low set last year. The game, however, still remains the most-watched All-Star Game among the major sports, according to SportsMedia Watch.

ESPN’s July 10 Home Run Derby telecast was the second-most watched live sports event last week with 5.52 million, but the number was down from last year’s 6.8 million viewers, and was the lowest since the 2018 event, according to Sports Business Journal. 

The conclusion of the CONCACAF Gold Cup soccer tournament placed several telecasts among the top 10 most watched events, including Univision’s coverage of the July 16 Mexico-Panama tournament final, which drew 4.32 million viewers. 

ESPN's July 16 telecast of the Wimbledon men's finals between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic finished fourth for the week with 3.19 million viewers, which was the biggest audience for the event since 2019. 

Also, ABC's July 15 WNBA All-Star Game drew 850,000 viewers, making it the league’s most-watched All-Star game in 16 years, according to ESPN. 

Fox Sports will use technology to bring baseball fans closer to the action during its live telecast of the 93rd Major League Baseball All-Star Game tonight (July 11) from Seattle’s T-Mobile Park.

For the first time, Fox during its  All-Star Game coverage will employ aerial drone technology to capture the action from unique angles throughout the ballpark, Fox Sports president of production and operations/executive producer Brad Zager said. “We’ll utilize the drone as players come on and off the field at the end of half innings, which is a first for us,” he said. “We’ll continue to push access and let viewers at home learn and hear from these all-star players more than they may get during the regular season.”

Also Read: Fox Sports Finds Success With a Time-Tested Playbook

Fox Sports will also look to provide a window into the player’s perspective during its telecast by placing live microphones on players, said Zager. The pregame studio booth featuring former MLB All-Stars Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Derek Jeter — who played in nearly 40 All-Star Games between them — will also provide analysis from a player’s point of view, he said.

“Having those guys there will allow viewers to get their perspective and offer context into what it’s like to play in an All-Star Game,” Zager said.

Overall, Zager said baseball’s new rules implemented this season, including a pitch clock to speed up the game, will not alter Fox’s production of the All-Star Game. “We think the rule changes that baseball has put in has done nothing but make this great game even better,” he said. “We look at the All-Star game as an opportunity to look at the game almost half-inning by half-inning in terms of who’s on the field and what stories we can tell.”

Fox’s 2022 MLB All-Star Game telecast averaged 7.51 million viewers, which was down 7% from the year prior. Zager believes that the league's momentum stemming from the strong play on the field and enhanced by the rule changes should bode well for All-Star game viewership.

“It’s been a great year for baseball with the changes that they’ve made, which has translated to fans being excited about watching games,” he said. “With the All-Star game you’ve got a great mix this year of established stars like [Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder] Mookie Betts as well as some of the younger guys you want to show off like [Baltimore Orioles catcher] Adley Rutschman and [Atlanta Braves outfielder] Ronald Acuna Jr. We’re looking forward to a great game.”

Play-by-play announcer Joe Davis and analyst John Smoltz will call the game for Fox. It will also air live on Fox Deportes as well as on the Fox Sports app.

Fox Sports has teamed with production company Religion of Sports to co-produce new original sports documentaries.

The first project of the multi-production deal, Baseball’s Greatest Moments With The Kid Mero: The MLB All-Star Game, debuts tonight (July 10) on FS1, and will feature highlights of unforgettable moments and fascinating stories from past All-Star games, according to Fox Sports. 

The two companies have worked together on such sports documentaries as The Great Brady Heist and Searching for Shohei: An Interview Special. “Fox Sports is excited about collaborating with Religion of Sports to spotlight captivating sports stories that are deeply ingrained in the heart of American culture,” Fox Sports VP of development and original programming Barry Nugent said in a statement. “These new films will feature the renowned legends and intense rivalries that have thrilled fans for generations.”

Religion of Sports CEO Ameeth Sankaran added: “ROS has built a foundation around storytelling and this deal marks new and exciting territory for the company. We are thrilled to be able to partner with Fox Sports.”

Baseball’s Greatest Moments with The Kid Mero: The MLB All-Star Game is executive produced by Gotham Chopra, Ameeth Sankaran, Victor Buhler, Eric Shanks, Mark Silverman, Charlie Dixon and Barry Nugent.

Fox Broadcasting’s 2015 MLB All-Star Game telecast hit a home run on Twitter last night, drawing more than 600,000 Tweets, according to Nielsen’s daily Twitter TV Ratings report.

The game, which the American League won 6 to 3 over the National League, drew 606,000 tweets reaching more than 7 million unique Twitter users topping all sports and entertainment programming for the night, according to Nielsen.

ABC Family’s drama series Pretty Little Liars was the most tweeted entertainment program of the night generating 149,000 tweets reaching 1.4 million unique Twitter users, according to the report

Media General stations in 14 markets went dark to Mediacom Communications customers Tuesday night in a retransmission consent dispute, including three Fox stations just prior to the start of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game.

Three Fox stations – WVBT in Norfolk, Va.; WTHI in Terre Haute, Ind.; and KTMJ in Topeka, Kans. – in Mediacom territory went dark just as the All-Star Game, live from Great American Ballpark (pictured) in Cincinnati, was beginning, according to Mediacom.  

Other stations that went dark in the dispute, according to Mediacom, are: KWQC (NBC) in Davenport, Iowa/Rock Island-Moline, Ill.; KIMT(CBS/MNT) in Mason City, Iowa; KELO (CBS/MNT) in Sioux Falls, S.D.; WANE (CBS) in Fort Wayne, Ind.; WAVY (NBC) in Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Va.; WTHI (CBS) in Terre Haute, Ind.; WKRN (ABC) in Nashville, Tenn.; KSNT (NBC) in Topeka, Kans.; KSNW (NBC) in Wichita-Hutchison, Kans.; WIAT (CBS) in Birmingham, Ala.; WOTV (ABC) and WOOD (NBC) in Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo-Battle Creek, Mich.; WBAY (ABC) in Green Bay-Appleton, Wis.; WFNA (CW) in Mobile, Ala./Pensacola, Fla.; and KRON (MNT) in San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif..

As is usual in retrans disputes, money is at the center of the impasse. In a letter to customers July 15, Mediacom Lincoln region vice president Tom Curtis said that in his market, which includes NBC affiliate KWQC, in negotiating a new three-year pact, the station demanded the operator pay more than double the rate it had paid in the past.

“Not only was Media General demanding more than double the money, the price they set for KWQC was significantly more than any other broadcast station we carry,” Curtis said in the letter. “If we agreed to Media General’s demands, KWQC would have become the most expensive broadcast channel in all of the 1,500 communities that Mediacom serves across 22 states.  Further, other broadcasters would follow and begin demanding to be paid the same as Media General, driving up costs for other channels on your lineup.”

On its website, KWQC said that it has hoped it would be able to reach a deal with Mediacom, as it has with several other multichannel video programming distributors in the past.  

“Please know that we have tried hard to reach an agreement with Mediacom, so that our viewers would not have to miss any of our around-the-clock reporting of news, traffic, weather emergencies, public service announcements, and favorite local and national programming,” KWQC said on its website. “We are disappointed in the outcome of our negotiations, especially since we have successfully reached deals with every major cable, satellite and telecommunications company that recognizes our fair market value. Without fair and equitable treatment, local TV stations will not be able to continue to provide top quality news, sports, entertainment, and other local programming that is most important to you.”

Media General purchased the stations from in two separate deals in 2013 with Young Broadcasting  and in 2014 with LIN Media.  According to Mediacom, this is the second time the stations have gone dark – in 2011 LIN blacked out many of the same stations in a separate retrans dispute for more than a month. Mediacom claims that since 2008, Media General and its predecessor companies Young and LIN have blacked out more than 75 stations.

The latest dispute comes about a week after Mediacom chairman and CEO Rocco Commisso asked the Federal Communications Commission to limit blackouts during retrans disputes.

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Ahead of tonight's Major League Baseball All Star Game on Fox (July 14), the Harris Poll and digital network 120 Sports each released some stats of their own about America's favorite pastime.

Who's on First?
32% of Americans say they follow Major League Baseball (vs. 37% last year). Of those:
- 43% are men; 22% are women;
- 38% live in the West, 36% in the Midwest, 34% in the East and 25% in the South;
- 36% are suburbanites, 26% live in rural areas; and
- 41% are college grads, 39% have attended grad school, 33% have some college and 26% have a high school education or less.

Top 5 Favorite Teams

(1) New York Yankees
(2) Boston Red Sox
(3) Chicago Cubs
(4) Los Angeles Dodgers
(5) Detroit Tigers

Top 5 Picks to Win the World Series

(1) St. Louis Cardinals (17%)*
(2) New York Yankees (11%)
(3) Kansas City Royals (10%)
(4) Los Angeles Dodgers (9%)
(5) San Francisco Giants (7%)

*The last time the Cardinals were the top pick (in 2013), they made it to the series but were defeated by the Red Sox.

Instant Replay Reaction
- 75% of fans are aware of this season's new instant replay rule.
- 61% believe it has slowed down the pace of a typical game at least a little.
- 80% believe it has been good for the game overall.

SOURCE: The Harris Poll online survey of 2,200 adults, of whom 700 follow Major League Baseball; conducted June 17-22

120 Sports's Top 5 Millennial Players From the "MLB 25 and Under" List

(1) Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels, 23
(2) Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals, 22
(3) Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins, 25
(4) Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles, 22
(5) Anthony Rizzo, ChicagoCubs, 25

Random Notes About the Top 25 "MLB 25 and Under" Players
- 17 are on the 2015 All-Star team rosters.
- They represent 15 MLB teams, with the most coming from the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals (3 each).
- 16 are from the National League; 9 are from the American League
- 7 are pitchers, 1 is a catcher, 3 play first base, 2 play second base, 4 play third base, 1 is a short stop, and seven are outfielders.
- 14 were first-round MLB Draft picks.

SOURCE:120 Sports

The All Star Game airs live from Great American Ball Park (home of the Cincinnati Reds) at 6 p.m. on Fox.