The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Saturday 25 September 2010
A special section on 3D technology should have said that a UK sales surge in colour TVs was prompted in 1967 by the BBC's broadcasting of Wimbledon tennis in colour; instead we linked the surge to England's earlier football World Cup victory.
Ever since England's World Cup victory 44 years ago prompted a huge upsurge in sales of colour television sets, live sport has been important in driving takeup of new technology.
That trend has accelerated in the two decades since Rupert Murdoch famously described live Premier League football as the "battering ram" with which his then struggling satellite TV company would become a familiar presence in living rooms around the country.
When the Ryder Cup tees off at Celtic Manor on 1 October, it will pass another landmark with the first sporting event broadcast to the home in 3D.
The great success of high definition – Sky recently passed the 3m subscriber mark – emboldened its executives to push the button on a huge investment in 3D. At the beginning of next month, customers will begin to get a sense of whether it has been worth it.
A viable proposition
Beginning with a clash between Arsenal and Manchester United last season, fans watching on big screens in selected pubs have been able to don the Joe 90 style spectacles that are still required to see the action in three dimensions. The innovation has served as both testing ground and marketing exercise for the same technology that will be employed in the home.
"The advantage we have is that we are a rights holder and a broadcaster as well as a platform," says Brian Lenz, BSkyB's director of product development. "We could see the way this was exciting everyone we showed it to and we knew how to make it into a viable commercial proposition."
Sky insists that 3D will be as mass market as high definition – Darren Long, Sky Sports director of operations, has predicted it would launch a dedicated 3D sports channel within the year.
Overseas, too, it is sport that has been driving the take up of 3D. Sony used the football World Cup in South Africa to showcase the technology, filming 25 matches in 3D. ESPN showed all those 25 matches in 3D in the US but has yet to announce its plans for the UK.
Some sports work better than others, with rugby, golf and darts all proving particularly effective. Long admits the broadcaster is still learning how to get the best from the technology.
"In the 2D world we tend to cut around and try and show what is happening. With 3D, we film it differently – more wide shots, less cameras and more time on the action," he says. "It gives you time to look around and see what is happening around the action, to see things you would normally only see from the stands."
Cost remains an issue, however; it's not cheap to produce. Covering an event in 3D requires a parallel operation, with separate directors, camera positions, outside broadcast trucks and directors. But the benfits are there for all to see.
For Sky, the increased pace of innovation is also a bulwark against the growing threat of online piracy. If the living room experience is so much better than that available illegally, the hope is that people will continue to pay handsomely for it.
And with other companies such as BT now offering some of its most attractive sport more cheaply, Sky is focusing on the overall event experience as well as simply its content.
But whereas high definition took off partly because it was heavily backed by both the BBC and Sky, followed closely by ITV and Channel 4, the pay TV giant's rivals are being more circumspect with 3D. While there is a clear commercial imperative for Sky, the BBC plans to wait until demand has been demonstrated.
It has promised that some of its coverage of the London Olympics will be shot in 3D – including the opening and closing ceremonies – but has yet to confirm whether it will actually be transmitted in 3D.
Enthusiasts argue the effect is subtle and engaging but others wonder whether it will be a lasting shift in the way we watch sport on TV or a passing fad. The pubs that have been trialling the technology report a positive response but watching in the home will be a different matter.
"The sceptics say 'am I going to sit there all night with funny glasses on?'. No, but you are going to sit down and watch the big match, the big movie. It's the epitome of event television," says Long. "When you get the combination of high definition and 3D, the depth is phenomenal."
Pub revolution: Going down well
Sky's network of 3D broadcasts to pubs has served to spread the word about the imminent launch of the service to the home, while the popularity of big-screen blockbusters such as Avatar filmed in the format has also whet the public's appetite for 3D content.
When the first football match was broadcast in 3D last season – Manchester United's victory over Arsenal at the Emirates – the response was largely positive, but far from overwhelmingly so. Most fans appeared quietly impressed, but remained unsure of whether they would shell out for it at home.
"It was interesting, it definitely added something. The key thing was that where you naturally have shots with an element of perspective, it looks really good," says Simon Fairway, a 29-year-old from London, who has since seen a handful of 3D matches. "At one of the games I saw, a goal was scored and someone jumped up in the crowd and those unexpected moments really add something. But for most of the match you just get a slightly enhanced sense of depth – it's pretty subtle." He says he was unlikely to invest in a new 3D set any time soon, preferring instead to wait for prices to come down and watch occasionally in the pub, saying: "I'm quite sceptical; I'd prefer to wait a bit."
BSkyB is hopeful that history will repeat itself. When it launched its high definition service, it coincided with a boom in sales for flat screen televisions as many people chose to make sure they were future proofed by ensuring their new set was HD compatible.
Executives believe that the first wave of "early adopters" who bought high definition sets to watch the World Cup in 2006 will now be looking to upgrade again. They are hoping that plenty of subscribers follow the example of Chris Stevenson, owner of a new 46-inch 3D TV and accompanying surround sound system. "I went to one of the first matches they showed in 3D in London. I then went to help my brother buy a new TV and they had it set up and I got sucked in.
"It was a lot more expensive than a normal TV but it's so nice," he says. "It's not like those awful red and green glasses you used to wear. It's just more immersive. It's like HD. I remember the first time I watched Wimbledon in HD on the BBC and it was just mind blowing. The quality was so good that you never want to go back to normal pictures. I'm totally ready to go. I can't wait."
