The NFL’s broadcast of this Thursday’s game between the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders will be the first ever broadcast in 3D-HD. This broadcast will take place in theaters in three cities; Boston, New York and LA as an invite only event.
Seeing a football game in HD on the big screen is one thing, but the added 3D experience is said to make the viewer feel as if they are actually on the playing field.
The NBA was the first sports league to give the 3D-HD a try with their presentation of the 2007 NBA All-Star game. 3ality Digital of Burbank California will produce and transmit the NFL’s December 4th game. 3ality Digital may be best known to the public for their work on the concert film “U2 3D” and for making NBC’s “Chuck” first scripted television show shot entirely in live digital 3D.
Guests to this screening will be the NFL’s broadcast and consumer electronics partners. The venues will also have 3-D televisions on hand to show what the home experience could be like in the future.
At the IBC trade show this summer, I was positioned across from a live 3-D demonstration. The 3-D camera was just pointed at the booth and passing crowd, letting people see the live feed on a 3-D HD monitor - once they put on the special glasses. The crowd continued to line up for three days to get their look.
At the theater this week the game will be a sight to see, with the biggest stumbling block still being that the audiences has to wear those glasses.
January of 1999 may seem like a long time ago to the folks at 60 Minutes. That was the last time they were at the top of the ratings… well until last Sunday when President Elect Barack Obama showed them the way back to the top.
The interview with Michelle and Barack Obama was seen by 24.5 million viewers Reuters is reporting, earning a preliminary Nielsen rating of 17.4. 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft landed this first interview for the President Elect and covered a wide range of subjects.
Other than providing answers to the expected political questions Obama also gave his views on a college football playoff and talked about getting use to his “loss of anonymity” but quickly interjected, “this is part of what you sign up for.”
The ratings numbers would suggest that ardent supporters and those who are still trying to learn more about Obama tuned in. It will be interesting to see if these ratings lead to a rush of interview requests by other news organizations trying to catch an Obama bump from viewers.
President Elect Obama had another first over the weekend; the first weekly Democratic Address to be posted to YouTube. The numbers on the Change.gov video were respectable, but far from the 60 Minutes ratings. As of today it had received over 800,000 hits. This seems to show that the use of all technology possible to communicate and engage people that the Obama team used in his campaign will continue into his presidency.
ABC is going to try and go where others have failed as they announce that they will bring the web series “In the Motherhood” to their network within the next year. The series currently streams from MSN.com and is reported to have logged 21 million views.
The series is created by MindShare Entertainment and features Leah Remini, of the “King of Queens,” Jenny McCarthy and E! TV’s Chelsea Handler. The storylines revolve around the challenges of motherhood.
MindShare Entertainment developed the show as a marketing tool for Sauve & Sprint. Both company’s names appear in the open of the show and their products are placed in the show too. Word is that Sauve & Sprint will stay involved in the TV version of the show.
Don’t think that this is some low budget on-line show; the six minute version I saw had the writing and production value of a network show already.
You may or may not remember the one episode of the show “Quarterlife” that aired on NBC. Although “Quaterlife” has a good web audience, those viewers didn’t follow it to NBC. That test of shows making the transition to television from the web was thought to mean no others need apply. The demographics for “In the MotherHood” however are completely different and these women still watch plenty of television.
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