Roberts: Not Convinced 3D is Future of 24/7 TV

Comcast chairman isn't sure new technology will be adopted like HD

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/27/2010 1:09:48 PM

Comcast Chairman Brian Roberts says the company plans to produce great 3D content, but says he isn't sure the new technology will be the next HD in terms of adoption for 24/7 TV.

In a Q&A session with the Wall Street Journal's Alan Murray at a Congressional Internet Caucus event Wednesday (Jan. 27), Roberts was asked how important 3D would be to the business, and what kind of bandwidth challenges it presented.

Roberts said bandwidth challenges were a good opportunity because it meant somebody wants something. He said that the 3D on display at the Consumer Electronics Show was the most impressive he has seen.

He said viewers would have 3D-enabled devices in their homes within the next 10 years, and that one of the exciting things was that it was starting at a price point differential of about $700 vs. a traditional TV, and would soon go down to zero--as opposed to the first HDTV set he saw that cost $30,000.

He likened the future of 3D to the ubiquity of Blue Tooth.  "The question is, are you going to want to sit there and wear glasses four hours a day to watch TV. I don't think so," he said.

Roberts likened the near-term future of the technology to a blue face rather than a tooth. "I actually think that for a while it will be big events, like an Avatar."

He said that with the digital transition, everybody was convinced that was where TV was going to need to be everywhere, all the time. "I'm not yet convinced we want to sit there all day long [watching 3D]."