• by Karl Greenberg , September 2, 2011

 

It may be a bit of a stretch, but one could compare 3D television to electric cars (or hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles) in one respect: in both cases, success depends on consumer acceptance of new technology, while consumer acceptance depends to some extent on infrastructure. For electric cars, that means charging stations. For 3D television, it means broadcasters willing to make the leap to shooting events, shows, what have you with binocular devices that create a bicameral video stream.

To back its line of 3D and Internet (IP) HDTVs, Panasonic (which also happens to make the battery for Toyota's Prius hybrid car) is looking to big sports events to help loosen the tech-acceptance gridlock of people waiting for 3D content, and content providers waiting for people to buy 3D TVs. For example, the company's presence at the U.S. Open in Flushing, N.Y. this week involves a consumer-facing exhibition of Panasonic 3D TVs, IP TVs, and audio equipment at the venue. Perhaps more importantly, it also involves a deal with CBS and others covering the event to shoot matches in Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadiums with Panasonic 3D cameras and equipment.

The broadcast deal constitutes a big expansion over last year -- Panasonic's first as a sponsor of the U.S. Open, where it shot 3D footage in one of the stadiums that was broadcast only on DirecTV. Kevin Frank, Panasonic's senior co-marketing manager for consumer marketing, tells Marketing Daily that with this year's deal, U.S. Open 3D content will be aired on DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, Comcast, Time Warner and Cablevision.

The company, whose U.S. marketing arm is in Secaucus, N.J., has also just signed a deal with the International Olympic Committee that makes it the Official Worldwide Olympic Partner in audiovisual equipment, meaning that Olympic Broadcasting Services will shoot some 200 hours of 3D content.

"We are in our second generation of 3D television," says Frank. "So, as we came to market we knew that the availability of content would be core." He says the company is doing similar partnerships with golf and soccer broadcasting globally and inking other alliances for 3D content, "whether they be Hollywood studios or big events like this."

The company's consumer exhibit at the U.S. Open is part of a broader grassroots effort that includes a 15-city tour this spring. Frank says experiencing the technology firsthand corrects misconceptions about 3D technology -- that one can only use it to watch 3D content, or example -- while showing how the HD 3D viewing experience is more chromatically intense than even a big-screen experience (part of this has to do with the glasses: the ones you get in the theatre are passive, while 3D TV glasses of the type Panasonic uses interact with the TV to receive separate non-contiguous streams to the left and right lenses.)

"Taking the product to the consumer in malls, and public venues like Grand Central in New York, lets consumers experience it and become believers," he says. In addition to the new 3D tech, the exhibits also show off Panasonic's Internet TV's, which use Panasonic's Viera Connect platform to integrate applications like Skype, Pandora, YouTube and Netflix.