Panasonic of North America and NBC Sports Group yesterday announced prior to the official start of the '12 Int'l Consumer Electronics Show that they will partner to make the ’12 London Games available in 3D to all U.S. distributors who carry Olympic coverage on cable or satellite. The effort will mark the first time that the Olympics will be distributed in the U.S. in 3D. Panasonic, a longtime Official Worldwide Olympic Partner in the Audio & Visual Equipment category, last year announced it would partner with the IOC and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) to make the London Games the first ever 3Ds (Panasonic/NBC). NBC will show more than 200 hours of the Games in 3D, a first for American television. NBC will show the Games in the enhanced format on a next-day, tape-delayed basis, retaining its primary focus for live events online and the always-critical 2D primetime windows. Distribution is also still uncertain, though Comcast, which owns NBC Universal, and DirecTV are among the likely candidates. Still, network officials said the effort represents an important milestone for the Olympics. 3D coverage, developed from the core OBS feed and distributed to broadcasters around the world, will be focused on many key Olympic sports, including track and field, gymnastics and basketball. "The Olympics are clearly a marquee event that merits all forms of distribution, including 3D," said NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel (Eric Fisher, SportsBusiness Journal).
