DirecTV Plans to Launch 3D HDTV Channel in 2010

According to HDGuru.com [via Engadget], DirecTV is planning to launch an all-3D channel next year.  Having just launched a satellite into orbit that will allow for this technological revolution, sources say that DirecTV will offer a firmware upgrade to its existing HDTV boxes.  Once the satellite becomes fully operational in March, then shows that are capable of broadcasting in 3D will be available to 3D HDTVs.  These television are expected to debut at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show, which begins on January 7th.

For my speculation on what this means for consumers and movie studios, hit the jump.

Presumably, these new 3D televisions will be super-expensive.  However, that doesn’t mean the technology won’t catch on.  On the contrary, it should begin a new transition just as analog gave way to digital and CRT televisions gave way to LCD and LCD might give way to LED, although throwing 3D HDTVs into the mix may change the technological progression entirely.

Finally, 3D HDTVs will already have a market for wealthy cinephiles who want to watch the digital 3D movies at home.  This would be a double-edged sword for studios.  On the one hand, it would cement the production of digital 3D movies by finally cracking into the home entertainment market and allowing consumers to actually watch movies like Avatar or Monsters vs. Aliens the way they were intended to be seen.  On the other side, two of the benefits of 3D offered to studios were the inability to pirate the film and it offered the potential to draw audiences back into the theater.  But once audiences can return to waiting for the DVD (or 3DVD or whatever the hell they’ll call it), both benefits will be lost.  Eventually, studios will have to offer singular experiences with live actors performing on a daily basis, perhaps on a stage of some kind.  That will be the true technological revolution.