Sky Preps 3-D Service for 2010

LONDON: Sky will launch the U.K.’s first 3-D channel next year, following the tremendous growth of its Sky+HD service.

Sky+HD is the only HD platform in the U.K. capable of broadcasting 3-D services. Its base now stands at 1.3 million customers. On the back of the platform’s record growth, Sky will launch a 3-D channel in 2010 delivering 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. Customers will also require a new ‘3D Ready’ TV, which are expected to be on sale in the U.K. next year.

Sky has already entered the 3-D landscape, this April broadcasting a performance by Keane live from Abbey Road Studios to a Sky+HD set-top box and 3D Ready TV.

The British platform will also unveil a ‘pull’ 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. 

Brian Sullivan, the managing director of Sky’s customer group, noted: “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 3-D TV channel, as well as introducing a comprehensive video-on-demand service to complement Sky+ and the current Sky Anytime service. 3-D 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.”