DirecTV, Fox Sports, and Major League Baseball may be pitching baseball in 3D a few days earlier than expected with discussions taking place to telecast the New York Yankees at the Seattle Mariners the weekend before the July All-Star game in 3D.
And sources say ESPN will deliver the Home-Run Derby in 3D the day before the All-Star game, though ESPN has not confirmed this yet. (Update: 48 hours after this report was filed here, ESPN confirmed that the network will create the first State Farm Home Run Derby 3D.)
These were a couple of the topics being discussed amongst big guns out in force at Angels Stadium in Anaheim today — execs from MLB, Fox Sports, and DirecTV — on the field and in the production truck monitoring baseball players performing in front of the most cutting-edge TV cameras and equipment.
But these weren’t high-priced superstars on the monitors — they were kids from local high schools who had a momentary shot at tasting life in the Bigs for a few hours Wednesday. They had been recruited to practice on the field of the vast stadium to be test subjects for the execs and the production crew of 3D guru Vince Pace. (Story continues following video below from the field and inside the production truck.)
–
Pace, who is responsible for pioneering much of the 3D camera and stereoscopic technology for “Avatar” and who recently led the production crew on a Harlem Globetrotters game for ESPN and will do the same for the upcoming Final Four and Masters Tournament telecasts, praised DirecTV and Fox for taking the time to test various camera angles in advance rather than trying to figure it out on the fly.
Fox Sports senior VP, field operations Jerry Steinberg told me that there will be six dedicated 3D cameras at the All-Star game and a crew of about 40 additional people for the 3D broadcast that will be separate from the regular HD telecast. DirecTV, which has said it will launch three 3D channels in June (now said to be later in June), is making 3D programming like the All-Star game available at no extra charge to subscribers of the satellite provider’s HD service who also have a 3D-enabled TV.
As for the favored camera angles, Steinberg and DirecTV executive vice president Eric Shanks liked a low angle camera shot from behind home plate while Fox Sports president Ed Goren liked shots where the camera was positioned at the end of the dugout railing as players leaned on the top rail while standing on the steps. The object in the foreground emphasized the depth of people further away from the camera. Pace was pleased with the long zoom lens shot from a camera in center field that showed clear spacial distance between the pitcher and batter.
No handheld cameras are planned as there were for the Globetrotters game. Although it wasn’t clear whether the small ball in flight traveling fast from the pitcher or flying off the bat will be enhanced much by 3D, all seemed generally impressed with the first test of a baseball game in 3D.
Perhaps the most relevant question some were discussing relative to the business end of all this is whether broadcasters like Fox will be able to generate any additional revenue for commercials in 3D. It’s the same concern the network had when converting to HD. A Disney exec said on a recent iHollywood panel that their research shows that sponsors will indeed pay a premium for 3D advertising. Goren said he has yet to find an advertiser willing to pay more for a spot in HD and doesn’t expect any different for 3D.
Shanks at DirecTV may have the answer: a premium price for on-screen 3D ads at the bottom of the screen that could literally appear to pop out of the TV during the program.
Sounds like there is still a lot of testing to do with the money-making potential of 3D TV as well.
— By Scott Hettrick