Bits Blog: End of ESPN in 3-D May Herald the Format’s Demise

ESPN, the nation’s largest sports network and an early adopter of 3-D technology, said last week that it was turning off its three-year-old 3-D channel. A spokeswoman said the decision was “due to limited consumer adoption of 3-D services to the home.” Although 3-D was once hailed as the next big thing in television, the format is now seen as an expensive flop, Brian Stelter reports in The New York Times.

The news spurred debate about whether anyone would be left watching in 3-D soon, or whether anything would be available worth watching.

“Many in the industry have said over the last few years that if ESPN ever pulled the plug on 3-D TV, that would be the format’s final chapter,” Phillip Swann, the publisher of the industry Web site TVPredictions.com, wrote after ESPN’s announcement. “Today, it’s hard to deny that statement.”