20th May 2010 - Panasonic has announced a joint partnership with the Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT), that will see the 2010 French Open Tennis, Roland Garros, transmitted live in high-quality 3D. This will be the first multi-day sporting tournament held in Europe to be broadcast live in 3D.
Roland Garros, taking place between May 23rd and June 6th 2010, is one of the most prestigious events in the sporting calendar and is the tennis grand slam with the widest European television audience. For the first time, people across the UK and Ireland will be able to experience the tournament in 3D at retailers, recreating the immersive experience of being court-side on the TV screen.
Thanks to support from content management and delivery company, GlobeCast, the 3D coverage produced on-site at Roland Garros* will be broadcast live via satellite to Panasonic’s VT20 full HD 3D TVs in participating retail stores across the UK and Ireland. The signal will be uplinked by Eurosport from the stadium to the Astra 1M satellite where it is then downlinked by GlobeCast for delivery to stores via the Eurobird 1.
Fabrice Estornel, Product Manager, Panasonic TV Group, commented ‘Following the release of our first 3D HD TVs and Blu-ray players, consumers for the first time will have the opportunity to enjoy the impact of 3D technology from such a prestigious sporting occasion as the French Open. We really feel that the spectacular live coverage displayed on our TV’s will spark the audience’s imagination and viewers will enjoy exquisitely beautiful images with an incredibly powerful 3D effect.’
Juliet Bayliss, GlobeCast Director of Sales said, “GlobeCast has been delivering HD feeds of the Roland Garros to broadcasters for many years and we are very excited to be working with Panasonic to take this to this to the next level with such a unique 3D project.”
Michel Grach , Media Director of Roland Garros added : “From the early days of sport on television, the Roland Garros tournament has always been at the forefront of innovation, and we are particularly proud that the French Open will be the first tennis event to be showcased so extensively in 3D. Our mobile clay surface makes 3D images all the more impressive, and tennis fans throughout the world will experience our sport as they never have before. Bringing together such diverse fields of expertise within the family of tournament partner like Panasonic - with such an exciting common goal - has set new benchmarks in technological cooperation for sport, and shows great promise for future developments and further ground-breaking innovation.”
The stores included in the program can soon be found at the Panasonic 3D website: http://fullhd3d.panasonic.eu/en_GB
