Viewer reaction will be the first metric ESPN studies to gauge th...
Viewer reaction will be the first metric ESPN studies to gauge the success of ESPN 3D, senior executives with the network told us at CES. ESPN 3D starts June 11 with the World Cup match between Mexico and South…
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Africa, and the network plans to show 85 live events in 3D in its first year (CED Jan 7 p1). “In our situation at ESPN, our fans will let us know, oh my goodness will they let us know,” said Bryan Burns, vice president of strategic business planning. Fan reaction “to me is the first step on the ladder -- if they like what we're doing,” he said. The two years ESPN spent testing 3D “that we didn’t have before” with HD have “given us resolve that this will bring an enhancement to the ESPN experience,” he said. Burns said he thinks that when ESPN 3D airs its first World Cup match in June, it will have “more distribution in place than we had” at the debut of ESPN HD. That won’t necessarily mean a consumer on day one will be able to walk into a Best Buy, take home a 3D flat-panel TV, hook it up to a 3D-capable set-top box and watch the match in 3D, Burns said. But “ESPN can’t control that,” he said. “What we can control is having more distribution in place.” Set makers have told ESPN they plan to ship the first 3D TVs to market earlier than Q4, Burns said. At CES, Panasonic said it thinks it will ship its 3D plasma sets late spring, while Sony Chief Marketing Officer Mike Fasulo told us his company was eying June shipment dates. But neither company discussed the pricing of first-generation sets.