Eutelsat Communications and Euro1080 announced a new partnership designed to further enrich the content of Eutelsat’s 3D channel which is broadcast across Europe by the Eurobird 9A satellite.
In this exclusive agreement, Euro1080 together with its TV production company Alfacam, a Belgisan pioneer in HD production and broadcasting, will bring to the 3D channel their extensive experience of production and recording in 3D of sports events and concerts, as well as their technical resources. They will also bring a directory of over 100 hours of 3D content including football, tennis, boxing, cricket, documentaries and concerts.
Alfacam initiated its 3D strategy in 2007, and since the end of 2009 has deployed a new outside broadcast mobile facility (OB43) for live high-end 3D recordings of sports events. The company’s pace of 3D productions is accelerating, with over 20 hours of new content produced over the past two weeks, including the Emir Cup football championship in Doha (Qatar).
Commenting on the agreement, Eutelsat Commercial Director, Olivier Milliès-Lacroix, said in a statement: “Eutelsat’s 3D channel aims to offer attractive and renewed content, as well as turnkey solutions for operators and broadcasters seeking to produce major events in 3D, including live broadcasts. Our new agreement with Alfacam takes our 3D capability to a new level.”
Alfacam CEO Gabriel Fehervari added: “Alfacam was the first, in 1992, to work in digital 16:9 and in 2000 we started to record events in digital HDTV. Whereas producing in HDTV was not that different from Standard Definition, there are huge differences between 2D and 3D production: the rhythm, the camera positions, the camera movements. In fact the complete technology and production are different. Generally we use fewer cameras and we try to avoid longer shots as viewers need to adapt their eyes to depth levels each time we cut to another image. Technically, 3D requires double camera sets, a lot more technical periphery and also different monitoring tools, both for directors and engineers. The results of this new effort are, however, amazing and we are delighted to pursue this new adventure with Eutelsat.”