Sky’s announcement of their 3D TV launch date today is set to make some waves in the digital TV world.
October the 1st 2010 is the date circled on the Sky calendar and Simplifydigital feel that they aren’t the only digital TV provider who has marked the date.
BT and Virgin Media will have taken notice of Sky’s announcement this morning and they will know that many people will be looking at them to offer some form of competition in the current monopolised 3D TV market.
But how far along are they?
Whilst there are no rustlings from the BT camp, Virgin Media are trialling, testing and trying to get their own 3D TV channel off the ground.
Last November Virgin Media successfully tested a 3D broadcast to a ‘closed network’ of televisions. The test was conducted over their existing cable network via a standard Virgin Media set top box. Along with this, Virgin Media also offered Channel 4 3D content via it’s on demand service last year.
So good news for the consumer then?
The successful test coupled with the fact that Virgin Media has already offered 3D content into subscribers lounge rooms proves that Sky will not be the only company in the 3D market place.
There are no ‘release dates’ from Virgin Media as of yet so it does seem that Sky will be first past the 3D post, but Simplifydigital believe that within a year or two we’ll have as much choice in the 3D TV market as we currently have in the digital TV market.