BBC To Abandon 3D TV Experiment

BBC To Abandon 3D TV Experiment
The BBC logo at Portland Place
The BBC logo at Portland Place
Getty

The BBC has become the latest broadcaster to signal the death of 3D TV - for now, at least.

The last programme broadcast in stereoscopic vision will be this year's Doctor Who special. The news emerged on the same day that the BBC broadcast the Wimbledon semi-finals in... 3D.

After 2013 the BBC will wait until at least 2016 to revisit the tech.

Kim Shillinglaw, the BBC’s head of 3D, said that while 1.5 million UK households now own a 3D TV the number who use it is minimal.

"I have never seen a very big appetite for 3D television in the UK," she told the Radio Times.

"Watching 3D is quite a hassly experience in the home. You have got to find your glasses before switching on the TV. I think when people watch TV they concentrate in a different way. When people go to the cinema they go and are used to doing one thing – I think that’s one of the reasons that take up of 3D TV has been disappointing."

"We will see what happens when the recession ends."

The BBC follows ESPN in abandoning 3D TV for the time being, while screen makers being to refocus on 4K as the next-next frontier for living room entertainment.

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