December 7 - Football fans will be able to watch the 2010 World Cup in 3D, thanks to a deal struck between FIFA, the sport’s governing body, and electronics giant Sony.
FIFA has granted Sony the right to record up to 25 games from the tournament in South Africa, for broadcast in demonstration booths at FIFA events in Berlin, London, Mexico City, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome and Sydney in June and July of next year.
Sony also will produce and distribute the official 3D film of the 2010 World Cup after the event.
Its right to broadcast games live during the tournament is still being negotiated
The deal is significant as Sony steps up its push to bring 3D television to the world.
Once the stuff of science fiction, 3D TV could be a domestic reality as soon as next year.
The BBC were actually the first to broadcast a live sporting event in 2008 with an England v Scotland Six Nations rugby union match.
Footage was beamed directly to a cinema in London.
Senior Sony executive Yoshinami Takahashi told an industry briefing in Sydney in August that 3D Blu-ray discs and players could hit the market as soon as October 2010.
Howard Stringer, the global head of Sony, predicts 3D will be a major earner for the company, because it offers the potential to tie together the company’s many strands, from computer games and movies on the software side to TVs, Blu-ray players and gaming consoles on the hardware side.
He said: “I’m very excited about 3D.
“We should be front and centre because we produce the cameras, the projectors, the games.”
Sony has just released Avatar, a 3D game for PlayStation based on James Cameron’s 3D movie of the same name, which opens in 3D-equipped cinemas next week.
It is also reportedly considering a 3D reissue of the movie Men In Black.
Other TV manufacturers are investing heavily in 3D, but Sony has a slight advantage as the developer of the Blu-ray format, the high bandwidth of which has been a major factor in the development of the technology.
But despite the manufacturers’ excitement, there are serious barriers to the uptake of 3D television.
People who wear spectacles are known to struggle with the clunky 3D glasses needed, and many viewers reportedly suffer from headaches and nausea when watching 3D programming.