TV stations in Australia are set to pull the plug on live 3D sport after the NRL and AFL grand finals according to sources at the Australian Communication and Media Authority. The move is set to hurt sales of 3D TV’s which have already started to slow after being hyped by vendors earlier this year.
A big loser is set to be Harvey Norman who heavily backed the technology in an effort to drive sales wrapped around promotions for the NRL State of Origin series.
ACMA executives who late last month rebuked Channel Nine over their premature announcement that the network would deliver the NRL Grand Final in 3D have said off the record, that networks are suffering from a lack of advertising support for 3D events and that production costs are “ridiculous” for a live 3D broadcast.
According to a report in the Sunday Telegraph a Channel Ten executive behind the HD One Sports Channel said ” There are no big plans for it here” another executive labelled it a “gimmick”.
According to Channel Seven the network is still investing in 3D with coverage with the AFL final set to be shown on digital channel 40.
A big issue for TV networks is the lack of production expertise in Australia. During the recent NRL 3D coverage of the State Of Origin Series the 3D coverage was slow, lacked close up action shots and appeared to be shot by significantly less camera’s than the 2D coverage.
The upcoming AFL and NRL Grand Finals will be shot by Global Television who will provide the Seven and Nine networks with 3D technical broadcast services.
Global was instrumental in Australia’s first live 3D sporting events this year – the Australia-New Zealand soccer friendly for Fox Sports and the NRL State of Origin series for Nine.
According to ACMA a major review of 3D TV is currently being undertaken with networks set to be charged for future 3D spectrum.
