London Olympic organizers and Panasonic yesterday announced that the '12 London Games "will be the first to be broadcast" live in 3D, according to David Meyer of the GUARDIAN. Organizers plan to distribute "more than 10 hours of 3D Games footage around the world every day." Olympic Broadcasting Services Managing Dir & CEO Manolo Romero said that the "opening and closing ceremonies will be broadcast in 3D, as will more than 12 sports" (GUARDIAN.co.uk, 8/31). Panasonic Managing Exec Officer Takumi Kajisha said that Panasonic will "provide all of the professional 3D equipment including new recording machines and 3D monitors as well as a technical team to enable the Olympic production to proceed." The 3D broadcast has to be filmed separately from the "normal Olympic broadcast which will be captured in high definition by 1500 cameras." Romero said that "14 broadcasters including the BBC will be involved in the 3D production, which will use 300 specialised staff." Romero added that "NBC in the United States, as well as host broadcasters in Korea, China, Australia, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand were committed to the 3D broadcast." However, for broadcast to the UK public, BBC "will limit the total 3D hours to 'an experimental level,' which is yet to be determined." BBC London 2012 Dir Roger Mosey said that the net "was interested in ensuring the Olympic Games was captured in 3D," but that the "audience demand for the product was far less than in high definition." Mosey added, "More of the audience want high definition rather than 3D and there is a tradeoff because we would lose some HD to produce 3D" (London TELEGRAPH, 9/1).
