200 hours of 3D confirmed for London 2012

Panasonic, the IOC and Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) have announced their partnership agreement to make the London 2012 Olympic Games the first ever live 3D Olympic Games. The 3D broadcast will include major events such as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, athletics, gymnastics, diving and swimming, and will be produced and delivered to participating rights-holding broadcasters around the world. OBS will be in charge of producing more than 200 hours of 3D coverage during the London 2012 Olympic Games by utilising Panasonic’s state-of-art 3D production technologies including the AG-3DP1, a P2HD professional fully-integrated twin-lens Full-HD 3D camera recorder.

“The Olympic Games has always been a pioneer in the development of TV broadcasting technologies, and has been on the cusp of innovation since the first live over-the-air broadcast was introduced in London 1948. Panasonic has been proud to support the Olympic Host Broadcaster since the first digital broadcast in Barcelona 1992, right through to the first HD broadcast in Beijing 2008. Now we are proud to announce the partnership with the IOC and OBS to create another successful era in Olympic broadcasting with the first live 3D Olympic Games at London 2012. There is no doubt that the Olympic Games will provide some of the best content for the 3D market in the future, and that 3D TV will drastically change the way we experience this great sporting event in our living rooms,” said Takumi Kajisha, Managing Executive Officer of Panasonic.

“For the past two decades, Panasonic has been a valued partner of the Olympic Movement and of the Host Broadcasting organisation,” said Manolo Romero, Managing Director of OBS. “We are now proud to announce this partnership to realise the first ever live 3D Olympic Games, and we are confident that this unprecedented broadcast will be a great success in no small part due to the 3D technologies provided by Panasonic. Ultimately, we believe this production of the first live 3D Olympic Games will make the London 2012 Olympic Games one of the most significant in the history of broadcasting technology.”