The BBC has been considering the possibility of broadcasting some of its London Olympics coverage in 3D since 2009, although the corporation has been cautious about committing to this as it means interrupting its core high definition TV service.
The men's 100m final at the London Olympics will be televised live in 3D as part of a summer experiment to test the public appetite for the new broadcast technology, the BBC has confirmed. The 3D coverage will be broadcast via the BBC HD channel.
Roger Mosey, the BBC executive in charge of the corporation's London 2012 coverage, said on Wednesday that the 100m final, parts of the opening and closing ceremonies and a nightly highlights package will be broadcast in 3D this summer.
"3D has spread more slowly than we perhaps expected in 2009 … but we do believe it's right for the BBC to go ahead with a 3D experiment this summer," Mosey said in a blog posted on the BBC website.
He added that the experiment was part of the "story of innovation" that goes with the broadcasting of Olympic events and that the "industry will only know what customers want if we have actual data on their use of 3D and there's no bigger stage on which to try this out than the Olympics".
Mosey said that the events were chosen "partly because they mark the pinnacles of the Games" but also that it will mean a minimal loss of HD coverage of other events when the BBC switches to the 3D feed.
"It's not yet clear how much of the ceremonies will be shot in 3D but otherwise opening and closing have the advantage that there's no competing sport, and therefore no loss of choice for HD viewers," he added. "But that wouldn't have been the case if we'd expanded our 3D coverage over the rest of the 17 days."
A spokesman for the BBC pointed out that the corporation is committing very little of the licence fee to 3D – in line with the small amount of public demand and uptake to date.
The summer experiments are designed to explore the editorial potential and customer reception to 3D broadcasting.
"The BBC has both a responsibility and a strong history of exploring innovation on behalf of licence fee payers," Mosey said.
The BBC has dabbled in 3D before, broadcasting the 2012 Wimbledon men's and women's finals using the technology.
• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook
