Fox Sports has announced that it will standardize on the Dolby 5.1 digital audio format on all future "Fox Widescreen" broadcasts. Fox first used the Dolby audio standard in its broadcast of the NFC Championship Game to DTV affiliates in Charlotte, N.C., Los Angeles and Washington.
Fox uses Dolby E to send the audio from the remote truck through its network and out to local stations, where it is decoded and then encoded into 5.1 for delivery to consumers.
Fox's first use of 5.1 was during its 2002 presentation of Super Bowl XXXVI and it notes that the number of Dolby Digital 5.1 affiliates is growing. Fox expects to cover NASCAR's Daytona 500 on Feb. 16 in widescreen and increase the use of 5.1 in its regular programming.
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