Sky to launch 3D TV in 2010 following record Sky+HD growth
Sky has announced that the number of customers choosing Sky+HD, the UK’s only high definition (HD) service currently capable of broadcasting 3D services, has increased to 1.313 million following record growth.
Customers have responded in record numbers to Sky’s high quality and great value HD service. Sky has more than doubled the number of HD customers in the last year alone with over 90 customers* an hour joining Sky+HD.
In the next step in the Sky+HD journey, Sky today announced that it will launch the UK’s first 3D channel next year. The channel will offer a broad selection of the best available 3D programming, which is expected to include movies, entertainment and sport. The service will be broadcast across Sky’s existing HD infrastructure and be available via the current generation of Sky+HD
set-top boxes. To watch 3D, customers will also require a new ’3D Ready’ TV, which are expected to be on sale in the UK next year.
This commitment follows extensive research and development activity into 3D, which included Sky becoming the first TV company in Europe to broadcast a live event in 3D TV. On 2nd April 2009 Sky successfully broadcast a performance by Keane live from Abbey Road Studios via the company’s satellite network to a Sky+HD set-top box and domestic 3D Ready TV.
Sky has also confirmed the launch of a comprehensive ‘pull’ video-on-demand (VOD) service next year, to provide Sky+HD customers with additional choice and control to complement Sky+ and the current Sky Anytime ‘push’ VOD service. This new service will use the broadband capability of existing Sky+HD boxes.
Brian Sullivan, Managing Director of Sky’s Customer Group, comments:
“Well over a million homes have future-proofed themselves with Sky+HD, a platform for choice, quality and future innovation. With Sky+ as standard, our customers are already enjoying amazing picture and sound quality on a range of high-quality HD channels which cater to the interests and passions of the whole family.
“Next year we will make our HD boxes work even harder for customers by launching Europe’s first 3D TV channel, as well as introducing a comprehensive video-on-demand service to complement Sky+ and the current Sky Anytime service.
“3D is a genuinely ‘seeing is believing’ experience, making TV come to life as never before. Just like the launch of digital, Sky+ and HD, this is latest step in our commitment to innovating for customers.”
Sky launched the UK’s first national HD service in May 2006 which has since become Europe’s most successful HD service. Today Sky+HD customers can watch 33 HD channels from leading brands such as Sky Movies, Sky Sports, Channel 4, Disney, MTV, BBC, Discovery, FX, Sky1 and National Geographic. Sky+HD customers can choose up to 400 hours a day – or 13,000 hours a month – of quality HD content, which is significantly more than any other TV platform.
Further channels are due shortly, including ESPN HD (August 2009), and Sky News HD (Spring 2010), with a view to growing the offering to 50 channels over time.
Further details on Sky’s pull VOD and 3DTV services, including pricing, packaging and entitlement, will be announced closer to launch.
* On average in the year to end June 2009
Sky+HD:
Sky reported today that in the fourth quarter of 2008/9, it added 291,000 Sky+HD customers, to reach over 1.3 million – more than double the number just a year ago. This means that 14% of Sky’s customer base now chooses Sky+HD (up from 6% last year).
About Sky:
Sky is the UK’s leading entertainment and communications company, operating the most comprehensive multi-channel television service. Over 9.4 million homes – a third of households across the UK and Ireland – enjoy the very best entertainment, movies, news and sports channels. In delivering entertainment through the TV, PC and mobile, customers have more control and flexibility over what, how and when they watch. Almost 5.5 million customers now choose Sky+, Sky’s digital video recorder, to record and store their favourite programmes and 1.3 million enjoy the unprecedented picture and sound quality of Sky+HD, which offers 33 dedicated HD channels. Sky is also the UK’s fastest growing broadband and fixed-telephony provider with over 2.2 million customers taking Sky Broadband and over 1.8 million customers taking Sky Talk.
About Sky 3D TV:
There will be no need for customers to upgrade their set-top boxes to access to the new 3D channel, as all existing Sky+HD boxes are already ‘3D Ready’. However, customers will need a new 3D Ready TV, which are expected to be on sale in the UK during 2010. More details on the channel, including timing, pricing and packaging will be provided in due course.
What has Sky captured in 3D?
On Thursday 2 April Sky successfully broadcast the UK’s first live event in 3D TV to a domestic 3D TV set, via its satellite network and existing Sky+HD set-top boxes. Using polarisation technology, this was the first time an event had ever been broadcast live to a domestic TV screen in the UK.
Other events recorded in 3D include:
- Usain Bolt, sprinting 150 metres down a specially designed track on Manchester’s Deansgate during the Bupa Great City Games (17 May 2009)
- Swan Lake, a special performance by English National Ballet to capture the UK’s first ballet for 3D TV (9 April 2009)
- England vs. New Zealand Rugby Union Test Match (29th November)
- Sky1’s Gladiators (December 2008)
- Liverpool FC vs Marseille UEFA Champions League (26th November 2008)
- Ricky Hatton vs. Juan Lazcano (12th March 2008)
3D explained
The human eye’s ability to see things with variable depth and wide perspective is based on how the brain processes two separate images, as received by each eye. When someone looks at something the brain is able to merge two separate images together to create a field of vision which is both three-dimensional and allows the viewer to focus on specific areas within any given scene.
The jump from 2D to 3D
TV has traditionally only been able to deliver a single image to a television screen. For all the innovation that we’ve seen in TV (including the move to colour, the migration to digital, and more recently, the launch of high definition services), all of these developments have only been able to work within the parameters of a single incoming TV feed – a 2D experience.
So even though HD delivers an intensity and richness which results in exceptional clarity and detail, it is still based on the same underlying picture delivery mechanism as previous TV formats.
3D TV is possible because of a series of major breakthroughs (principally in camera, post-production, encoding, set-top box and TV set technology) which means that domestic TVs are now capable of processing an image in a way that can deliver the depth information to the brain – much like the human eye – and hence add a further dimension to HD.
For the first time, two images can now be merged and played out simultaneously on the same domestic TV display. Polarising glasses are currently used to help direct the correct left or right full colour on-screen image to the corresponding eye. The brain then processes each feed to create a single image, providing a level of depth and focus which means that the content is able to move to and from the foreground and therefore becomes three-dimensional.
Sky to Make TV History with the Launch of 3D TV
Sky 3D channel to launch in April with live Premier League football every week, starting with Arsenal versus Manchester United
ISLEWORTH, ENGLAND, February 03, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ — Sky has announced that it will launch Sky 3D, Europe’s first dedicated 3D TV channel, this April. As part of the final preparations for this ground-breaking launch, Sky will preview the new service with a world first on Sunday 31 January 2010, becoming the first TV company anywhere to broadcast a live 3D TV sports event to a public audience. The Premier League clash between Arsenal and Manchester United will be filmed in 3D and broadcast over the Sky platform to selected pubs around the UK and Ireland, with their customers becoming the first audiences anywhere in the world to experience live Premier League in 3D.
To support this landmark broadcast, the nine pubs – located in London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin – have been kitted out specially with some of the first ’3D Ready’ TV sets to reach the UK and Ireland. As 3D TVs become more widely available, Sky will roll out its 3D channel to hundreds of pubs from April, allowing football fans across the country the opportunity to experience a live Premier League match in 3D each week.
Once 3D TVs begin to reach the consumer market later this year, Sky will then make Sky 3D available to all Sky+HD customers, giving millions of people the opportunity to watch a wide range of content in 3D, including movies, sport, documentaries, entertainment, and the arts.
Sky 3D works with all existing Sky+HD boxes and will initially be introduced at no extra cost for customers who subscribe to Sky’s top TV package and the Sky HD pack. Sky 3D will also be compatible with all 3D Ready TVs coming to the UK and Ireland this year, including all models from Sony, Samsung, LG and Panasonic.
To make the 3D preview a reality, Sky Sports will produce two edits of its live coverage of Sunday’s game at the Emirates Stadium, one for its HD channel feed and another dedicated to 3D. Eight specially engineered 3D camera rigs will house sixteen of Sky’s high definition cameras, to provide comprehensive stereoscopic coverage from all angles. The 3D broadcast will be supported by Sky’s dedicated 3D production team and purpose built 3D outside broadcast truck, which will enable live mixing between camera positions, slow motion replays and the use of innovative 3D graphics. There will also be a dedicated commentary team to support the 3D edit.
Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s chief executive, said: “3D is without doubt one of the most talked-about developments in television for many years. Sky has always innovated to bring customers the best possible viewing experience, so we fully intend to take the lead in bringing the spectacle of 3D to the UK and Ireland.”
About Sky
Sky is the UK’s leading entertainment and communications company, operating the most comprehensive multi-channel television service. More than 9.7 million homes enjoy the entertainment, movies, news and sports channels. In delivering entertainment through the TV, PC and mobile, customers have more control and flexibility over what, how and when they watch. Over 2 million enjoy the picture and sound quality of Sky+HD which offers 37 dedicated HD channels.
Sky+HD customers can record at the touch of a button, record two channels while watching a third previously recorded programme, automatically record new episodes of a favourite series, pause and rewind live TV and remote record. Customers can also watch Sky Anytime – a selection of the weeks best TV available on demand offering up to 90 hours of HD programming. HD ready TV with Sky+HD is Supertelly.
Early Years of 3D Television and Where We Are Now
3D technology dates back to the beginning of when photography was first introduced. In 1844, David Brewster invented the Stereoscope, a gadget that could take photographic pictures in 3 dimensions. The Stereoscope was then improved by Louis Jules Duboscq and a famous picture of Queen Victoria was displayed at The Great Exhibition in 1851. By the Second World War, stereoscopic cameras were already common.
3D movie technology was parallel to 3D pictures and imaging. In 1855 the Kinematoscope was introduced. The first anaglyph movie was created in 1915 and in 1922 the first public 3 dimension film was displayed called “The Power of Love”. Following that, in 1935 the first 3D color movie was created.
In the early fifties when Television became popular in the United States, many 3D films were produced. The first film was Bwana Devil from United Artists that could be seen all across the US in 1952. A year later, in 1953, came the 3D film “House of Wax” which also featured another innovation called 2D sound. Alfred Hitchcock originally made his film Dial M for Murder in 3D, but for the purpose of profitability the movie was released in 2D because not all theatres were able to display the format.
Recently the British Sky Broadcasting company, better known as Sky UK, announced that they will launch a Sky 3D channel in April 2010. It will bring content such as sports, entertainment, and other 3D television programming that will be accessible to the public. The new channel will require a 3D capable TV and equipment by Sky UK.
On January 1, 2010, the world’s first 3D channel called SKY 3D started broadcasting nationwide in South Korea. The channel’s tagline is “World No.1 3D Channel”. This 24/7 station uses Side by Side technology at a resolution of 1920x1080i. 3D programming includes sports, animation, education, documentary, as well as performances.
A full 24 hour broadcast channel was announced at the 2010 Consumer Electronics show, held in Las Vegas as a joint venture from IMAX, Sony, and the Discovery channel. As the year progresses, consumers can expect to hear more such announcements as the broadcast industry prepares to introduce 3D TV to consumers globally.
