Wow, I knew we were going to get a 3D offering from Sky but this is something else!  So fast…  Sky are broadcasting the first ever 3D sports match, a football (soccer for you US types) er on Sunday.

Yep, a world first, and in the UK the first ever 3D sports on TV and it’ll be between Arsenal and Manchester United in the Premier League this Sunday.  It’ll be available to anyone with a 3D TV (so no one then) and a bunch of pubs have been given some TVs to use for the show.  There’s one in Manchester for Ian to go to.

To support this landmark broadcast, the nine pubs – located in London, Manchester,  Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin – have been kitted out specially with some of the first ‘3D Ready’ TV sets to reach the UK and Ireland.   As 3D TVs become more widely available, Sky will roll out its 3D channel to hundreds of pubs from April, allowing football fans across the country the opportunity to experience a live Premier League match in 3D each week. 

And also interesting to read how they do it:

To make the 3D preview a reality, Sky Sports will produce two edits of its live coverage of Sunday’s game at the Emirates Stadium, one for its HD channel feed and another dedicated to 3D.  Eight specially engineered 3D camera rigs will house sixteen of Sky’s high definition cameras, to provide comprehensive stereoscopic coverage from all angles.  The 3D broadcast will be supported by Sky’s dedicated 3D production team and purpose built 3D outside broadcast truck, which will enable live mixing between camera positions, slow motion replays and the use of innovative 3D graphics. There will also be a dedicated commentary team to support the 3D edit.

This is gonna be very cool stuff folks this 3D lark.  Sky’s full consumer service launches in April, best get them 3DTVs on the market folks…

Full details in the press release