Sony's Live Production head honcho Malcolm Robinson believes that BBC is technically capable of broadcasting Wimbledon finals in
3D over its HD channel. Sony has been entrusted with the responsibility of shooting Wimbledon in 3D format. However, this time over, only the last three days of the championship will be recorded in three dimensional glory. Sony is using stereoscopic format for 3D recording. This is the same format which is used by Sky for its 3D services.
Sony sounds pretty excited about this but BBC is keeping low profile and refused to comment on Sony's offhand remark. While BBC may eventually venture into 3D territory, but it does not seem ready for the upcoming event. BBC was also offered to do 3D broadcast of World Cup and Royal Wedding but it declined. Anyways, Sony is all prepared for the event and it won't be the first one for the electronics company. Sony has already used its technology for capturing World Cup in 3D. In order to boost its 3D portfolio, the company had recently acquired HawkEye Technology.
BBC, on the other hand, is still mulling the relative value proposition for broadcasting the tournament in HD or 3D. A corporation executive pointed out that while 8 million households in the UK are HD ready, the number of 3D equipped houses is still below 200,000. Danielle Nagler of BBC also said that 3D is still not mainstream. This means that corporation may have tough time justifying its decision to broadcast in 3D. So in nutshell, if you are looking to watch the tournament in 3D, your only bet is to actually buy the ticket and sit in the stadium. Going by BBC's assertion, it does not look like it would be broadcasting the tournament in 3D, at least not this year.