Australia’s Ten eyes joint venture 3D channel

Australian commercial broadcaster Network Ten is eyeing the launch of a dedicated 3D channel and wants to launch it as a joint venture with its two main rivals Seven and Nine.

Ten chief executive Grant Blackley said that it could look to launch a 3D event channel. “In defence of 3D, as an event channel, I think it’s wonderful. As an aggregated event channel, maybe the three broadcasters get together and we have a dedicated channel where we contribute because I think it’s cumbersome to have one broadcaster try and do it themselves,” he said.

Nine has produced rugby competition State of Origin in 3D, the first free-to-air 3D broadcast, and public broadcaster SBS has also aired a number of World Cup soccer games in 3D.  

However, Blackley warned that international broadcasters, particularly in the US, weren’t queueing up to launch 3D shows. “We’ve just come back from the [LA] Screenings and watched product for a week, not one of those properties was broadcast in 3D,” he added.