BSkyB has teamed with the Cameron Pace Group for their first major venture – the 3D Ryder Cup coverage, held in Medinah Illinois later this month. It will be co-produced by CPG and Sky Sports separately from the 2D host broadcast produced by NBC and European Tour Golf. Around 26 3D camera positions will be used. “In this instance it is not 5D largely because of the way it was pulled together rather late. It was difficult for us to add extra cameras to NBC’s existing roster,” said John Cassy, director, Sky 3D. Would English Premier League football follow? “We are talking about a range of opportunities,” Cassy said. James Cameron, co-chair of CPG, expressed frustration that broadcasters in Europe and the US weren’t shooting more 3D. “The irony is that we are doing the hardest things in 3D – visual effects cinema and huge multi-camera broadcast shoots, yet nobody is exploring the easy, low hanging fruit of two camera scripted drama – where the cost delta is negligible.” The director has identified China as the key growth market, last month launching a CPG 3D joint venture there. “We’re talking to the state government, the central government and we’re talking to the major regional broadcasters in China,” he said. “They are in lock-step that they want to accelerate very rapidly into 3D. They have a sense of their emerging identity as a major economy and 3D is a part of it. They want it and they’ve got a sort of government mandate to do it. We believe we can demonstrate things there that will ripple back into North American and European markets.” – Adrian Pennington and Carolyn Giardina
