ESPN 3D Marks One Year Anniversary With Plans For Continued Growth

Saturday marks the “one year anniversary for ESPN 3D,” and ESPN is seeing a “faster rollout with 3D than it saw with HD,” according to James Careless of  TVTECHNOLOGY.com. ESPN VP/Strategic Business Planning & Development Bryan Burns noted that when the network launched its 3DTV sports service last June, ESPN “estimated that it would broadcast about 100 3DTV events a year.” But now, Burns said, “As of May 2011 we had hit 107 events, so we’ve gone slightly beyond what we planned. All told, everything is proceeding on track.” Burns said by signing agreements “with AT&T and DirecTV, ESPN 3D was immediately available to 45 million subscribers," a number that has since risen to more than 65 million. To date, U.S. 3DTV sales “have been slow." The Consumer Electronics Association said that only 1.1 million units were sold in ’10. But the CEA “expects sales to increase by 67 percent,” to 1.9 million 3DTVs in ’11, and to “keep growing after that.” In reflecting on ESPN 3D’s first year, Burns noted that “a lot of production lessons have been learned.” ESPN 3D Coordinating Producer Phil Orlins said, “Every sport gives us a fresh set of challenges and opportunities. Ultimately the question is ‘how do we maximize the 3D experience and still properly document the sport?’ Figuring that out is the fun part.” Careless noted ESPN 3D will add “slightly more games in its second year, while remaining a relatively lean operation overall” (TVTECHNOLOGY.com, 6/8).