The US Open will be broadcast in 3D for the first time when the annual tournament begins next month, but yet again its availability will be extremely limited.
Panasonic, which has a big 3D content deal with DirecTV, will be supplying all the equipment and production costs for the 3D coverage. The event will thus only be aired in 3D to DirecTV customers.
3D coverage of the US Open will air on n3D, a channel that only DirecTV carries. However, Panasonic has also teamed up with big box electronics retailers like Best Buy to showcase coverage of the tournament on in-store 3D TVs as well.
Panasonic has taken a much more active approach in 3D content than any of the other TV manufacturers. It has singlehandedly made it possible to broadcast prior PGA events as well as Nascar races, in the TV medium. It also is responsible for a lot of the equipment used in DirecTV’s studio-based 3D series.
It is possible that the US Open may also be streamed live online. That would require viewers to have a special kind of computer monitor as well as proprietary 3D glasses from Nvidia. So far, though, it has only been confirmed for DirecTV customers.
