DirecTV, ESPN, & Discovery to Launch 3D TV Channels

I still don't want to see Avatar in 3D because the blue hybrid people-aliens kinda freak me out, but put anything else in 3D and I'll be there with bells (and my 3D glasses) on.

Coming off last week's news that DirecTV is planning to launch a HD 3D channel early this year, both ESPN and Discovery Networks have announced they are planning to launch 3D channels of their own:

The Disney owned sports operator is set to introduce ESPN 3D in June, launching with the airing of the first World Cup soccer games on June 11. The channel will air 85 live sporting events over the year, but will go dark when there is no event on.

World Cup replays, goal celebrations, and hard tackles in 3D? AWESOME.

Discovery, meanwhile, has launched a joint venture with technology companies Sony and Imax, to launch a 3D channel in 2011. Although, it hasn't announced what content it will air in 3D, the channel will be a 24 hour channel.

The only possible drawback? According to the article about DirecTV's HD plans:

If accurate, the newly available content for the firm’s subs would require both a 3D-equipped HD set (and the requisite glasses) in order to see the light, as it were. One Web site, HD Guru, which originated the story citing its own sources, said DirecTV will announce its 3D plans at CES.

You know, I'm tempted to be skeptical about this 3D channel business, simply because it seems untested and unnecessarily expensive to buy a completely new television to view only one or two channels.

But then think about early HD programming - it was only a couple channels and required a new TV - and how far that has come along in the last few years. Surely there are innovators out there who will jump on the 3D wagon and extoll its virtues to the rest of us who will slowly follow suit. Is this going to be another change that's going to revolutionize the way we watch television?



(Courtesy of TBIvision.com, tvtechnology.com, & HDGuru.com)