3DTV 2010: Bratches Bullish on ESPN 3D Prospects

By Kent Gibbons
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

New York -- ESPN Executive VP Sean Bratches offered
some perspective on 3DTV's prospects by recounting how his network's HD
channel launched seven years ago.

Speaking May 25 at 3DTV 2010, a conferenceco-sponsored by Multichannel News, Broadcasting

& Cable,TWICEand other NewBay Mediapublications, Bratches, ESPN's top distribution executive, noted that
ESPN HD launched in March 2003 on some of the smallest cable
distributors, the likes of Comporium, Service Electric Cable TV and
Utilacom.

ESPN 3D will launch on the top cable operator
(Comcast) and
the top satellite-TV provider (DirecTV) on June 11 with access to more
than 40
million homes, much more than the ESPN HD launch, though the 2003
rollout did
start with some larger operators such as Cox.

"We're very encouraged with the slate of affiliates
we have
going into the marketplace with ESPN 3D" Bratches told Multichannel
News editor in chief Mark Robichaux in a Q&A
opening the event.

Click here for the full article on Multichannel.com.

Kent Gibbons
Kent Gibbons

Kent has been a journalist, writer and editor at Multichannel News since 1994 and with Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He is a good point of contact for anything editorial at the publications and for Nexttv.com. Before joining Multichannel News he had been a newspaper reporter with publications including The Washington Times, The Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal and North County News.