- Peacock will broadcast Telemundo’s World Cup coverage with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos in AC-4
- Dolby AC-4 codec promises higher sound quality than current streaming codecs
- All 104 games will be covered.
Last month we reported on a blind test that says Dolby’s next-generation AC-4 audio codec sounds as good as 4K Blu-ray even at a low streaming bitrate. And now you can listen to it as a World Cup soundtrack, if you have the right technology and subscriptions.
Dolby and NBCUniversal have teamed up to deliver a world first. Telemundo’s live coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Spanish will stream on Peacock in Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos using the AC-4 codec; According to Dolby, this is “the first commercial deployment of Dolby AC-4 by a video streamer.”
All 104 matches will be broadcast using this technology, the first time it has been used for a major sporting event. It’s also the first time a major streaming service has used the technology.
(If Spanish commentary isn’t your thing, you might be interested in Samsung’s latest TVs and their AI Soccer mode, which lets you eliminate commentary entirely while keeping in crowd noise; here we tested two affordable Samsung 2026 mini-LEDs.)
Why this World Cup will seem like the future
Sound quality is one area where streaming can be disappointing. The audio codecs used by major streaming services cannot rival the quality of a 4K Blu-ray disc’s soundtrack because their audio is too compressed.
AC-4 is more modern and offers much higher quality at the same bit rates, and in the double-blind listening test I referenced above, several audio professionals were unable to distinguish between AC-4 audio and uncompressed audio. Apparently it is up to 50% more efficient than current codecs.
Using Atmos with AC-4 means the sound of these World Cup matches should be even more atmospheric, so if you have a decent speaker setup or one of the best soundbars it will be even more fun to listen to.
I’m not sure it’s 100% as “vivid and electrifying as if you’re sitting front row for every game without stadium prices” as the marketing blurb claims, but better dynamic range with Dolby’s spatial audio technology should mean it feels genuinely more immersive.
Dolby and NBCUniversal engineers have spent a year working together to bring Dolby Vision to live sports, and according to NBCUniversal Senior Vice President of Global Video Engineering David Bohunek, “Soccer fans will love watching Telemundo’s coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Peacock in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos with Dolby AC-4 – it will be a truly stunning viewing experience they can’t get anywhere else.”
Of course, you’ll need to be a Peacock subscriber and use an AC-4 compatible TV to get the full effect. Dolby says that support for TVs is quite widespread today and lists the following partners: “LG, Panasonic, Sony, TCL, Samsung, Sharp, Vantiva, Bang & Olufsen, Hisense, Huawei, Humax, Sagemcom, Skyworth/Strong, SEI Robotics, Innopia, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Liberty Global, Sunrise, SES HD+, Sky, Swisscom, Zattoo, Waipu.tv, PŸUR, Ocilion, Austrostream, TPVision, Vizio, Philips, Kaon, Winston Neweb.”
Naturally, you’ll need to check if your particular device supports it, using the manufacturer’s website (or, more likely, Google).
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