Advanced Television

VR

IDC: AR/VR sales to rebound this year

The sale of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) headsets and content have not set the world on fire to date. Despite plenty of enthusiasm and hype the actual take-up has been miserable. But 2018 could see a rebound, according to a report from International Data Corporation (IDC). New, or updated, hardware will help. […]

March 22, 2018By Chris Forrester

France Télévisions preps astronaut VR experience

France Télévisions, along with French producer La Vingt-Cinquième Heure, is creating a 360° VR experience based around French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. The experience will feature two short-form 360° programmes (2 x 15min). These short documentaries, collectively called Dans la peau de Thomas Pesquet (In the Life of Thomas Pesquet) will chronicle the daily life of […]

March 16, 2018From Pascale Paoli-Lebailly in Paris

Attenborough fronts Sky VR’s Hold The World

Sky’s new VR experience, Hold the World, is set to launch this spring, offering the unique opportunity of a one-on-one audience with natural history broadcaster, and national treasure, Sir David Attenborough. The interactive experience instantly transports the viewer from the comfort of their own home to London’s Natural History Museum – where a launch event […]

March 7, 2018By Nik Roseveare

Telefónica launches TV VR experience

Spain’s dominant telco is launching a virtual reality application to “allow the total immersion of user in the TV content”, cording to a statement from the company released at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The project called TV Virtual Experience “is a step forward the future TV” as it will integrate the virtual reality into […]

February 27, 2018From David Del Valle in Madrid

Strategy Analytics: 3 reasons operators will win with VR

Strategy Analytics, Huawei and China Academy of Information and Communications Technology’s new white paper on VR shows that despite some of the hype surrounding VR evaporating, the industry continues to gain traction amongst consumers, and network operators are in the best position to capitalise on this growth. Report author, David MacQueen, said,

February 27, 2018

Discovery hails Winter Olympic success

With the closing of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, Discovery says it has delivered on its commitment to engage more people, on more screens than ever before across Europe. Viewers embraced Discovery’s production of the Olympic Games in record numbers, including the most immersive coverage, every minute live on digital, and the best experts analysing […]

February 27, 2018

BBC launches VR app with new documentary

The BBC is launching Damming the Nile VR, a two-part virtual reality news documentary series exploring the water politics of the river Nile. Produced by BBC VR Hub and BBC News, the two-part series is available now through a new BBC VR app on the Oculus Gear VR store. Damming the Nile VR transports viewers […]

February 21, 2018

BBC Earth VR experience on Google Daydream

The award-winning natural history series Blue Planet II was the UK’s most-watched programme of 2017 and is currently stunning audiences internationally. The series has also inspired a surge of interest in the current state and the future of oceanic life. Now BBC Worldwide and Google have teamed up to bring fans of the BBC’s natural […]

February 15, 2018

BBC ‘Civilisations’ AR app

The BBC is launching its first augmented reality app, as part of a major collaboration between the BBC and more than 30 museums from across the UK and to mark the launch of new landmark arts and culture series, Civilisations. ‘Civilisations AR’ is being developed by BBC Research & Development and Nexus Studios, enabling people […]

February 7, 2018

Fan link-up service wins sports innovation award

A service which allows sports fans to create virtual living rooms, enabling friends and families to watch TV together, has won a BT sports media innovation award. The winner of the BT Infinity Lab competition, Sceenic, will now be trialled by BT Sport for potential future use by the company. London-based Sceenic’s solution claims to […]

February 1, 2018