Hard Work Made Live 3D Hockey Telecast Successful, Producers Say

Cablevision’s live 3D hockey telecast March 24 (CED March 25 p7) went off without a glitch because of intense preparation and attention to detail among all parties for the March 24 debut, executives involved in the production told us Friday. More important, valuable lessons were learned for future live 3D sports telecasts, they said.

The Madison Square Garden match between New York rivals the Islanders and the Rangers used 3D developer RealD’s stereoscopic format to capture and transmit the action to local Cablevision subscribers with home 3D TVs, and to about 2,600 VIP guests who viewed the game on a large projection TV in the Garden’s private theater wearing passive RealD glasses.

Even potential problems anticipated by the production teams “didn’t pan out,” said Dan Ronayne, executive vice president and general manager for MSG Networks. Those included 3D-artifacts that could be produced by obstructions to the 3D cameras, like marks and blemishes on the protective glass around the rink, or by focusing through the nets behind the goalies. “When you're shooting live, your doing it without a net -- pun intended,” Ronayne told us. Ted Kenney, producer for production company 3ality, concurred. He'd first voiced concerns about obstructions to the 3D cameras in a pre-game interview on msg.com.

"The marks on the glass weren’t a problem, and the Garden people were great. They buffed the glass at every chance, inside and out,” Kenney told us. During the broadcast, he found other potential problems for 3D cameras, like the poles that hold the safety glass in place. “It could make it look like that pole is literally right in your lap,” Kenney said. He made post-game recommendations to address those issues, and was investigating other things to make 3D broadcasts better, like seamless glass, he told us Friday.

Meanwhile, valuable lessons were learned in shooting live-3D for hockey, and those might apply to other sports. The trick is avoid overwhelming the viewer with spectacular effects, Ronayne said. “We learned a ton, and so did the industry. First and foremost, we learned that the closer to the action you are, the more spectacular is the effect.b In hockey, that means placing the cameras close to the ice. It better conveys the emotion of the game,” he said. That was captured especially by the 3D cameras in the corners, near each goal, he said. “But, it didn’t make it seem like things were coming right at you. Our goal wasn’t to make things spectacular. The 3D experience was just meant to make it seem like you had the best seat in the house for the game."

The Cablevision, MSG and 3ality teams prepped hard before the live 3D broadcast, Ronayne and Kenney said. Days before, production teams scouted the arena for camera placement. A trial shoot was done Tuesday evening during a New York Knicks basketball game, Ronayne said. Early Wednesday, the crews fine-tuned by shooting 3D interviews with players, announcers and former players.

"We got some exciting footage from that was rolled into breaks for the live Rangers and Islanders game,” Ronayne said. That was because there were no commercials for viewers of the 3D presentation, either at home or at the Garden, he said. “For the breaks, we had lots of interviews, plus a tour of the Garden in 3D, and 3D footage from the Winter Classic in Boston,” he said, referring to the outdoor game played Jan. 1 at Boston’s Fenway Park. The National Hockey League provided 3D footage from that game, Ronayne said.

Asked to characterize audience behavior and reaction to the 3D presentation in MSG’s theater, Ronayne said “It was as like they were at the game, at the rink. The ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ were consistent with being at the game itself.” Viewers in the theater “forgot about wearing the 3D glasses after a few minutes,” and got to take those away as souvenirs, he said. Although theater-attendees had the option to roam, most viewers there “stayed put in their seats just as they would during a game if they were seated in the arena,” Ronayne said.

"MSG pulled out prime seats to accommodate our cameras,” Kenney said. Those included 12 top-priced seats behind the goalie, and also relocating the sideline seats of the teams’ local radio broadcasters, he said. “Because Cablevision and MSG were 100 percent behind the effort, we got the camera positions and kind of production we really wanted. They really wanted this to work.” Going forward, he and the 3ality staff want to stake-out additional camera positions. Meanwhile, Kenney is researching ways that hockey teams can make their rinks more 3D-friendly, such as replacing hard-poles on the rinks with so-called “seamless glass."

As for the home 3D audience for Cablevision’s inaugural broadcast, there was no account as of Friday, Ronayne and other Cablevision executives told us. “We still don’t know, and who does?,” Ronayne said. Per our previous report, there probably were very few homes with 3D equipment among the 3 million Cablevision’s local subscribers. But, MSG had some consumer 3D TVs deployed at MSG during last week’s game, mostly in private suites, Ronayne told us. “I'm told the feedback was rave reviews from those viewers,” he said. Only Panasonic and Samsung have sets for sale in the New York metro market.