Sky did NOT say 3D TV by Christmas

TechRadar can reveal that Sky did not say it was planning to bring 3D TV to the UK by 2009, despite reports to the contrary.

Several sources suggested that Chief Engineer Chris Johns had put a 2009 date on the arrival of the 3D TV that the company demonstrated to the press in December.

However, TechRadar can reveal that what Johns actually said at last week's DTG conference was that a three-to-five year timeline is 'optimistic'.

What he really said

"When will there be 3D channels?" asked Johns. "This is the crystal ball question. We need to get rid of the content gap which is what we are doing at the moment.

"We're trying to gain experience with types of content we can actually acquire and in doing that we are actually building a library of content we can bring to the viewer.

"…So then we're reliant on the screens. Most of screen manufacturers demonstrated variants of stereoscopic, both active and passive, auto-stereoscopic and projection and the predictions are they could be in market place by 2010."

Deliver content

"So at Sky we'd like to be in position where, if the screens are coming into the market place, we're able to deliver content to those screens," he adds

"You don't have to buy anything else; if you go out and buy that screen then you are actually future-proofing yourself and you can receive 3D television.

"So that's our aim, to build up that content and aim for when the screens come into the marketplace to be there and be able to actually help establish the base for 3D television."

Optimistic

"So the next three to five years is probably optimistic.

"Strangely enough in 2012 there is a large event [the Olympics in London]…and it could be distributed as Ultra HD to pubs and clubs and cinemas but another opportunity for such a large event – and we know 3D was shot in Beijing [Olympics] – could be that we use that as an opportunity to deliver 3D TV sport into the home.

"It's a question."

The question may be, how was this construed as a 2009 arrival date?