CBS DISCOVERS NEW REVENUE SOURCE: MOVIE THEATERS

While the potential of 3D to alter TV viewing at home remains an iffy proposition — only a scattering of 3D-compatible TV sets are currently in use — it now seems likely that 3D telecasts in theaters could soon become an important revenue source for the struggling networks. CBS said Tuesday that its 3D telecast of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game between the Duke Blue Devils and the Butler Bulldogs exceeded expectations, despite the fact that it was only able to line up 55 theaters to screen it. (The network had to compete with three movie studios that wrestled one another for 3D venues for Clash of the Titans, How to Train Your Dragon and Alice in Wonderland. “It was way past my wildest imagination, it was really good,” Ken Aagaard, EVP of operations and engineering for CBS Sports, told Broadcasting & Cable magazine. “Everything really worked well.” The network used the Fusion 3D systems originally developed by Vince Pace for James Cameron’s Avatar. The same gear is expected to be used by ESPN on Thursday for its 3D coverage of The Masters golf tournament in Augusta, GA. Meanwhile, CBS reported that its online coverage of the college basketball tournament (“March Madness on Demand”) was also successful — in particular its MMOD “Boss Button,” which instantly transforms a desktop monitor into a spreadsheet when the boss enters an office. CBS said the button was used 3.94 million times during the course of its MMOD coverage.