Discovery's Zaslav Aims For Broad Distribution Of 3D Network
Network Scheduled to Launch in 2011 Via Partnership With Sony, IMAX
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 1/5/2010 5:50:28 PM
Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav said he's hoping to get broad distribution for the linear 3D network that the company expects to launch in 2011 with Sony and IMAX, noting that it won't require significantly more bandwidth than existing HD services.
IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond, Sony Chairman, CEO and president Howard Stringer and Discovery CEO David Zaslav
"We will, beginning tomorrow, be talking to the distributors," Zaslav said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday. "We believe we'll have very good and productive discussions.... We see it as a channel that will be broadly available."
The as-yet-unnamed Discovery/Sony/IMAX 3D network will feature programming from genres that the companies said will lend themselves to 3D, including movies, natural history, space, exploration, adventure, engineering, science and technology and children's programming.
"It will be a general entertainment channel," Zaslav said. "We've had a lot of discussions with the distributors in general about 3D. There are a lot of questions, and a lot of excitement.... We expect that it will be very well received."
Distributors will be able to carry a 3D channel in about the same amount of the bandwidth they use for an HD signal, Zaslav said.
According to CableLabs, many of the digital set-top boxes currently deployed by cable operators are capable of processing 3DTV signals in a "frame-compatible" format, which carries separate left and right video signals within the video frame used to convey a conventional, 2D high-definition signal by squeezing them to fit within the space of one picture.
Discovery, Sony and IMAX will each have a 33% stake in the venture. Discovery will provide network services -- including affiliate sales and technical support -- as well as 3D television rights to Discovery content and cross-promotion across its portfolio of 13 U.S. television networks. Sony and IMAX will contribute movies and other content, with Sony providing marketing and additional advertising and sponsorship sales support across the U.S., and IMAX contributing a suite of proprietary and patented image enhancement and 3D technologies.
Separately Tuesday, ESPN announced plans to debut a 3D service in June 2010, timed for the World Cup, which will feature at least 85 live events in the first year.
Discovery launched one of the first HD networks in 2002, HD Theater, and executives said questions about how quickly and widely 3DTV will be adopted by consumers are similar to those asked about the first HD channels.
The company estimates that about 5 million households are "early adopters" that will purchase a 3DTV set within the next 24-36 months, with another approximately 20 million affluent households that will subsequently adopt the technology, Discovery founder and chairman John Hendricks said.
"I'm convinced that 5 to 10 years from now we'll see the mass rollout of this," he said. "We see 3D television as that next step along the way to providing consumers closer-to-reality experience."
The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that nearly 2.2 million 3DTVs will be sold in 2010 and that by 2013 more than 25% of all televisions sold will be 3DTVs.
IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond pointed to the movie industry's recent success with 3D to demonstrate its consumer appeal. He said IMAX-affiliated theaters -- which are currently showing Avatar in 3D -- represented 25% of the box office in the U.S. last weekend with just 2% of the screens. "That gives you a sense of the power of 3D," he said. Other recent 3D IMAX films include Disney's A Christmas Carol and Alice in Wonderland, Under the Sea 3D and Sony's Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.
IMAX, Gelfond added, has proprietary technology to convert 2D video into 3D: "There will be a lot of things we will do there."
The Discovery programming has yet to be determined, but the Discovery Channel has previously featured a 3-D broadcast of its Shark Week franchise. Zaslav said the partners have initiated a search for a CEO to launch the network.
The Discovery/Sony/IMAX network doesn't have a name, but it definitely won't be called "Discovery 3D," according to Zaslav. He said the three companies will be working "to come up with a name we think consumers will respond to."
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