Footie fans feast eyes on 3D Premier League football match

Football fans watched Arsenal and Manchester United kick off the world's first live 3D sports broadcast.
 
Sky Sports filmed the Gunners' Premier League clash with the Red Devils to nine pubs across the UK using the latest polarised 3D method.

The live broadcast from the Emirates Stadium in north London served as a preview for Sky's full 3D channel, which goes live in April.

Sky transmitted two live feeds from the game - one to its traditional Sky Sports customers and another in 3D.

Sunday's Premier League football match between Arsenal and Manchester United will  be the world's first live 3D TV sports broadcast. Football fans at nine pubs in  London, Manchester, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin will don shades to become the  first audiences anywhere in the world to watch live 3D sport.

Two separate commentary teams, two camera crews and two production teams produced the simultaneous broadcasts.

Ex-Gunner Alan Smith and commentator Alan Parry became the first voices of live 3D sport.

As the number of 3D TVs arriving in the UK increases, Sky promises to broadcast a weekly 3D Premier League game to hundreds more pubs this spring. And in the home, its 1.6 million Sky+HD customers (figure from September 2009) will be able to watch the 3D channel at no extra charge.

The broadcaster has been developing its 3D system for two years and its team even travelled to America to visit the pioneer of modern 3D cinema, Avatar director James Cameron.