[Satellite News 05-31-10] Eurosport will only launch a commercial 3-D TV channel in the next year if it is able to do so on multiple satellite pay-TV platforms, Eurosport General Director of Distribution and Development Jean-Thierry Augustin told Satellite News.
    According to Augustin, who spoke at a Telenor event in Oslo this week, the tipping point for the sports broadcaster is when operators see strong demand for 3-D TV services. “Eurosport’s tipping point is when two to three platforms see themselves at a tipping point for 3-D. We need multiple platforms. We would need more than BSkyB doing well,” he said
    In preparation for a potential 3-D channel launch next year, Eurosport is providing 3-D coverage of the French Open tennis tournament across various locations in Europe. Eurosport is broadcasting the event live in SD and HD across 58 European markets and has launched an extra Eurosport channel to transmit live 3-D broadcasts from the center court of Roland-Garros via the Thor 6 satellite at 1 degree West. Telenor Satellite Broadcasting will turn around the signal from Paris and uplink to Thor 6 for distribution in the Nordic territories.
    Augustin is confident that if customer demand is there, Eurosport will be in the first batch of 3-D TV channel providers.
“If a few channels launch in 3-D, we will be in one of the initial channels that launches in 3-D. I think a number of pay-TV platforms in Europe featuring premium sports are looking at launching 3-D TV offers as early as Christmas. I am sure when this happens, we will be one of the companies involved. We have been very successful in HD, and I am sure we can be very successful in 3-D. At the first moment it is commercially feasible to launch a 3-D TV channel, we will do it. I hope it will be possible in the next six months.”
   While sports coverage likely will be the key driver in the development of 3-D, Augustin denies there is a competitive pressure on Eurosport to launch 3-D. “BSkyB are broadcasting in bars. I think we are the first broadcaster to broadcast a two week event in 3-D to many different locations. We think we can give a very compelling experience to viewers. Eurosport is expected to be here and play in this environment, but I don’t see that as competitive pressure. We will only launch a 3-D channel when the business is right. If that is not in the next 12 months, I won’t be disappointed. But having said that, the move to 3-D TV might go quicker than people think,” said Augustin.
   However, the speed of Eurosport’s competitors drove the company to make its 3-D move sooner than later. Eurosport made the decision to move to 3-D in February. In three months since then, the broadcaster has built a full technical capacity to do 3-D. Augustin feels Eurosport is taking risks with the new technology, with a pay-off that will hopefully be attractive to advertisers. “Eurosport is the first channel to provide live 3-D sports content in the Nordic region. It is the first two-week long sporting event broadcast live in 3-D in Europe. The new 3-D technology is redefining entertaining, offering viewers a truly immersive, HD experience. It is being watched in over 3,000 different venues in Europe, thanks to Panasonic and our distribution partners. We believe we are in the leading pack,” Augustin said.
   Canal Digital might look to jump on the 3-D TV bandwagon itself for the Nordic region. Jarl Søderman, vice president of content, marketing and sales for Canal Digital, said it was difficult to put a timeline on when things would happen in 3-D. “We have seen some success with some movies in 3-D and that is spilling over, and gradually you will see channels in 3-D. With HD, we were supporting the content in a more straight way in terms of production. In 3-D, content has to be produced differently. We are following more the initiatives from different broadcasters.”
   In the Nordic region, other broadcasters, such as NRK, are catching up with HD. NRK will launch all three of its channels in HD on satellite by early 2011. The broadcaster is also putting out a tender for a new encoding platform. In terms of timescale, Per Bohler, technical engineer of NRK said its tender for new encoders will go out very soon. “It will definitely be wrapped up by the end of this year. We will definitely make a decision in terms of our next generation encoders in the next six months.”
   The public broadcaster said it had no plans to go beyond three HD channels at this stage, or produce a 3-D TV channel in the near future. “There are no plans to go beyond three HD channels at the moment. It is a question of economy. As our channel is backed by license fee money, expansion opportunities are limited. Stereoscopic TV is not the roadmap in NRK. We are closely monitoring what is going on and monitor that carefully through EBU projects. It is unlikely to be on our roadmap until after 2014. 3-D TV is much more complicated than HD for example,” Bohler said.