Sky TV, the satellite operator 39.1 per cent owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, is currently trialling a new 3D outside broadcast system that will bring little three-dimensional football games to your television, bridging the gap between real life and Subbuteo.

Scheduled for launch some time in mid-2010, the system looks very impressive. I visited the live broadcast production of the ATP Tennis Finals at The O2 to get an idea of what early adopters can expect. Most of the hardware required is already installed in homes up and down the country. Sky 3D uses the same dishes and Sky HD boxes that we’re used to, although you will need a new telly that’s able to interpret the 3D image. You’ll need 3D glasses, too. Not the two-colour ones that you might have worn for Channel 4’s 3D theme night, but rather stylish wraparound jobs with clear polarised lenses. Sky is looking to run a specialist 3D channel, at least in the first instance, with sports, documentaries and I don’t doubt the first TV screening of James Cameron’s Avatar at some point. All in three glorious hi-def dimensions and with 5.1 sound to maximise your immersion. For sport, wide shots are handled by pairs of HD cameras ganged together in a special rig to mimic our binocular vision while close-ups are covered by standard 2D cameras with the image ‘dropped back’ slightly in the stereo field to maintain continuity. Sky’s 3D team tried 3D close-ups but the effect was just too jarringly unnatural for prime-time. A new dedicated ‘convergence’ team of stereographers tunes the 3D effect to the ideal depth, giving directors at least one more person to bark at. While some test audiences have reported 3D fatigue for programmes over 25 minutes or so, Sky’s system seemed more natural to me the longer I looked at it. There is one big advantage over the fuzzy blue sci-fi originals too: Sky’s little tennis players are in colour.