Servus goes for old-fashioned 3D
The Austrian commercial TV channel Servus TV has started broadcasting videos in 3D using the old anaglyph system. Servus is sending out the coloured (amber and blue) glasses to see the 3D effect to viewers in German speaking territories at no charge. At the moment only short videos are shown in between regular programming, but the channel also plans longer 3D broadcasts. Using the old system, which broadcasters have used on rare occasions in the past, no special receivers are needed, just a pair of simple glasses. There is of course no connection with the various new 3D TV systems currently under development, but it gives the Red Bull-owned broadcaster a much needed PR boost.Last November, the UK’s Channel 4 ran a week of 3D programmes using the anaglyph system, a move criticised in some quarters for confusing the market.

BBC online soap pulls in 1.7m views
E20, the online spin-off from the BBC soap EastEnders, has reached 1.7 million views since its launch on January 8. The figures compare favourably with conference darling KateModern, produced by Bebo, which at its peak in May 2008 was drawing in 1.5 million views per week. The BBC soap was commissioned by BBC Vision Multiplatform and has benefitted from both cross-promotion and storylines that have interweaved with the four-nights-a-week soap. In addition to the EastEnders website, E20 is also available through the BBC iPlayer.

Cross platform carriage for NRK HD
NRK will launch its new HD channel on February 12 with carriage secured across DTT, satellite, cable and IPTV. RiksTV, Canal Digital, Get and Altibox will all go live at 20.05 for the first broadcast from NRK’s Olympic studio. In addition to extensive coverage of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, NRK viewers will also be able to watch the popular drama series Himmelblå and coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place in Oslo on May 29. Films including The Kite Runner, Spiderman 2, The Young Jane Austen and The Golden Compass will also be seen in the HD format. NRK is in the process of upgrading its studio equipment and estimates that all domestic production will be in the format from 2015. The policy is to renew equipment as part of the normal replacement cycle, ensuring that no money is taken from the regular programming budget. Commercial broadcasters TV2 and TV Norge already have HD channels in place.

KabelKiosk adds RTL Group HD channels
Eutelsat’s KabelKiosk, Germany’s cable headend-in-the-sky, has announced the immediate launch of the RTL HD and Vox HD channels from Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland. The addition to KabelKiosk of both channels follows the signing of an agreement between Eutelsat Germany and Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, which was announced in Berlin at Eutelsat Germany’s annual reception on January 21. With their launch in KabelKiosk, RTL HD and Vox HD will be available for the first time in HD quality for digital cable networks in Germany. KabelKiosk’s German cable partners will immediately be able to offer the new option to their subscribers via Eutelsat’s Eurobird 9A satellite. KabelKiosk’s HD offer will progressively expand over the next months to up to ten German and international channels. The package will offer a choice of free and pay content to partners and customers, opening up the future of HDTV for independent network operators and the housing industry.

Euronews launches in Turkish language
Euronews will launch its Turkish service this Saturday January 30, at 20.00 CET. The Turkish internet service premiered last Friday, January 22, and features all Euronews programmes on demand. The Turkish version of the channel will be available via Turksat. Turkish Radio and Television (TRT), a Euronews shareholder, will broadcast a daily Euronews branded block on its terrestrial channel TRT2, reaching all Turkish homes. The new language version will be provided by a team of 30 staff. It will broadcast across the Euronews global network of satellites and can be rebroadcast by international platforms including those already distributing euronews (cable, ADSL, satellite and terrestrial) reaching some 300 million homes in 151 countries.

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Clover's Week And now in stereo Julian Clover finds that the prospect of 3D TV is more realistic than he thought.

Now is probably not the time to fess up to my previous disregard of 3DTV. While being a keen supporter of high definition television I just couldn’t see the demand for its stereoscopic cousin.

My road to Damascus moment probably came last week at the DTG-organised 3DTV event in London. The room was full to bursting and the gentle reminders to check that I was still coming underlined the pressure on seats. Arguably such events just prove that there is a demand from the supply chain to sell their products; the real test will come later in the year when the promised 3D TV services make it to market.

Initially these will just be for public display; handing out 3D glasses to drunken football fans up and down the country may be asking for trouble, but with the cost of the specs down to just 65 cents a pair it will not be an expensive venture. The same goes for the ability to kit out the whole family with their own 3D glasses and if like me you already where glasses, you can get a pair o Foster Grant-style clip-ons.

The majority of new TV displays are already HD Ready, so it is not that greater jump to think that in five years time, 3D might also be as standard. And unlike the HD sets that many watched oblivious to the need to connect up some HD content, you can tell pretty soon if you don’t have a 3D image.

That problem might also be about to solve itself. Sky’s announcement on Thursday morning that it was to phase out its standard definition equipment in favour of an HD PVR for all can also be regarded as n industry milestone. Although the Ukrainian operator MYtv is launching with HD capable receivers – the forward thinking decision was made even though the satcaster will not initially have any HD channels – my hunch is that it will take a while before any other European operators take similar decisions.

Back at the conference it was noticeable how far forward the production techniques have come. Gone is the look of the children’s theatre or the feeling that the footballers are taking part in a high tech version of Subbuteo. Instead crystal clear images – the side-by-side system used by Sky is not strictly HD, but it’s close – and an increasing knowledge of what does and doesn’t work.

Sky can promise to deliver a weekly Premier League match on its Sky 3D channel because it has been doing just that since early in the season. The skillset being developed has made it clear that the shots used in standard and high definition, don’t deliver the same experience in HD – remember those long lingering stadium shots in Euro 2008. This brings in another problem, commentators, so much so that when the BBC experimented in 3D on the 6 Nations rugby it used its radio commentary rather than the TV feed so that viewers were told precisely what was happening.

There is still one flaw in the introduction of 3D: 2009 saw the greatest number of TV sets purchased in one year and with 14 million flat panels expected to be in situ by the end of 2010, do we really want to go through it all again.

Editor: Julian Clover +44 1223 464359