CBS Sports to present the Final Four in 100 3D theaters

There's no bigger sport in March than College Basketball and CBS is once again stepping up its coverage of March Madness by covering the last three games in 3D. With some help from Cinedigm Digital Cineman Corp, 100 movie theaters throughout the nation will present the games in 3D for your viewing pleasure, but If you don't live near a theater -- or just want to find content for your new 3DTV -- you might be in luck as CBS is also reaching out to cable and satellite providers about sharing the love. This is yet another live 3D broadcast to add to the others this year, which will hopefully be just the beginning of live 3D sports for years to come.

[iPaul Posted Mar 10th 2010 7:25AM]

from my experience sporting events look shit in 3D

they are shot from the sidelines giving ZERO 3D effect

shot from end to end or a corner does give some depth

[BenD Posted Mar 10th 2010 7:26AM]

@iPaul

If you like things in your face sure, but I actually prefer sports in 3D to even Avatar. It just makes me feel more like I'm at the game.

[peter0328 Posted Mar 10th 2010 4:33PM]

@iPaul
I saw the NBA All Star Saturday Night 3D live broadcast at my local Rave Motion Pictures theater.

It was also presented by Cinedigm and the 3D effect was amazing. It looked as good or better than 3D films I have seen at the same theater.

If you were not impressed than either your theater had presentation problems. the cameramen were not well-trained, or you simply don't enjoy 3D.

[brianbobcat Posted Mar 10th 2010 12:24AM]

So CBS reached out to distributors, but did anyone take? I thought the 3D channels weren't gonna go live until June or July, so will they be sitting on this until then and then provide it On Demand? How much fun will it be watching a 3 or 4 month old sports championchip?

-Brian

[sbeckstead Posted Mar 15th 2010 9:26PM]

@brianbobcat This is being done live!

[jon0522 Posted Mar 10th 2010 1:27PM]

Panasonic and Samsung are now starting to garner newspaper headlines covering the debut of their "highly anticipated" 3D formatted TV's which are slated to officially appear on nationwide sales floors this week. One newspaper article I read yesterday cites the origin for the public's apparent craving for 3DTV's originating from the 3 year span of box office receipts generated by the major movie studios.

I'm utterly amazed at how Japan's TV and bluray manufacturing giants are so confident that the average U.S. consumer is now ready
shell out an additional $500.00 or more for the privilege of viewing 3DTV formatted content at home. 3D content which, as of now, is primarily limited to a few, select movie titles.

Major TV networks eager to jump on this happy bandwagon, are now said to be scrambling to produce a proliferation of HD3D television programming. Despite the lack of programming, some networks like ESPN have already formally announced plans of adding exclusive 3DTV channels into their existing lineup. Yeah, that's a sure bet for cable-- especially for the likes of ESPN, a TV network owned by ABC/Disney that has been crying so much lately about the uncontrollable rise in production costs. It's also worth noting that many TV networks are still trying to transition to HDTV programming as well as the related production costs.

There is no doubt that movie going audiences have officially embraced 3D formatted movies like "Avatar". Being someone who traditionally subscribes to just about everything you can pay for on cable TV and our HDTV's, I really fail to understand why anyone would be interested in wearing a pair of ridiculous looking glasses for the at-home "privilege" of watching anything in 3D.

In the meantime, it's going to be very interesting to see how all this hype for 3DTV's plays out.

[brianbobcat Posted Mar 10th 2010 8:30PM]

@jon0522 I picture 3D shows and channels to be the elite and premium channels, not the norm. I NEVER expect my local news to go 3D, but I'm sure there'll be some station out there to do it if for nothing more than the publicity. ESPN, HBO and/or Starz and similar channels are what I envision will go 3D. I just can't picture basic cable channels (CBS, NBC, CBS, FOX) to go 3D.

-Brian

[slimmer Posted Mar 10th 2010 1:46PM]

"which will hopefully be just the beginning of live 3D sports for years to come."

I hope not.... i cannot wait for this fad to die off!!

3D TV = HD-DVD save your money.

[sbeckstead Posted Mar 15th 2010 9:29PM]

@slimmer This isn't TV it's in theaters. And it looks amazing.