The BBC has announced that it will broadcast selected events from this summer’s London Olympic Games in 3D.
All of the corporation’s free-to-air 3D output will be broadcast via the BBC’s HD channel and will include the Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony, the Men’s 100m final, and a highlights package at the end of each day.
The 3D broadcasts will be available to anyone who has access to a 3D TV set and HD Channels, regardless of which digital TV provider they use.
Roger Mosey, the BBC’s director of 2012, confirmed in a blog post on the BBC Sport website that the 3D Olympics coverage is one of a small number of experiments currently being undertaken.
“We’ve always been clear we were never going to have a 3D channel for the Olympics and the BBC’s overall approach to 3D has been very much on the lines of an experiment around special events like Wimbledon and Strictly Come Dancing,” said Mosey.
Consumer demand for the viewing format, which has been heavily promoted by BSkyB over the past two years, was lower than expected, with research by broadcasting watchdog Ofcom suggesting that just 6% of UK housesholds have 3D-ready television sets.
“If we had, for instance, decided to do a whole night of athletics in 3D on Friday 3 August, then we’d have lost swimming and other sports from BBC HD, which would have disadvantaged the far larger number of people who’d want to watch that.”
The BBC broadcast in 3D for the first time last year when it showed the Men’s and Ladies’ Finals of the 2011 Wimbledon Championships on the BBC HD channel.
Kim Shillinglaw, Head of BBC 3D, says: “We have always said we believe some of 2012 should be captured in 3D, and we’re delighted to confirm our offer to audiences in the UK, providing them with a new way of getting close to some of the key moments from the London 2012 Olympic Games.”
This year’s London Olympic Games will be the BBC’s largest single broadcasting operation in its history, with the corporation pledging to bring live sport from every venue as it happens.
Coverage will be shared across BBC One, BBC Three, BBC Red Button, BBC Radio 5 live and the BBC Sport website, where 24 separate video streams will keep viewers in touch with every live event. In all, the BBC’s daily coverage will span across 16 hours, starting with Olympic Breakfast at 6am and finishing at midnight.
TV schedules are still to be confirmed and will be released nearer to the Games, though viewers can already ready start planning their online viewing via the BBC Sport online guide at bbc.co.uk/olympics.
The BBC’s presenting line-up was confirmed last December with Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker was chosen to host prime-time coverage of the Games, and the corporation also announced that Elbow will perform its theme music.
