Sports Fans: See the BCS Championship or NBA All-Star Game in 3-D

In January and February, you'll have a chance to see two live sporting events in 3-D, at digital cinemas around the country. Cinedigm Entertainment (formerly known as AccessIT) has the info. The BCS Championship happens on January 8th; the NBA All-Star game on February 14th. Cinedigm has a list of all the theaters that will carry the games.

Thanks to 3ality Digital for sending along the press release.

Invite Only: NFL's 3-D Demo This Week

Too bad that sports fans can't buy tickets to see Thursday's game between the Raiders and the Chargers in 3-D. It's for invited guests only.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The several hundred guests at the three participating theaters Dec. 4 will include representatives from the NFL's broadcasting partners and from consumer-electronics companies. The event will be closed to the general public. Burbank, Calif.-based 3ality Digital LLC will shoot the game with special cameras and transmit it to a satellite. Thomson SA's Technicolor Digital Cinema is providing the satellite services and digital downlink to each theater, and Real D 3D Inc. will power the display in the theaters.

This isn't the first time the NFL has participated in a 3-D experiment. In 2004, a predecessor company to 3ality filmed the Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers. When Sandy Climan, 3ality's chief executive officer, shows the footage, "people crouch down to catch the ball," he says. "It's as if the ball is coming into your arms."

The Hollywood Reporter adds:

The test will serve as a proof of concept for the possiblities of 3-D televised sports in the home because several consumer 3-D ready displays will be used.

"This broadcast will be an exciting test of how 3-D could affect fans' experience in the future," said Howard Katz, the NFL's senior vp broadcasting and media operations.

Friday news: 3-D, Starz v. Disney, Red Camera Gets Feature Gig, Nameless New Video Site

- In 3-D news: James Cameron talks to BusinessWeek about motion capture and 3-D filmmaking. And 3ality, one of the pioneering production firms in digital 3-D, is building a new 20,000 sq. ft. facility in Burbank, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

- Starz Entertainment is suing Disney. Starz thinks that its deal with Disney prevents the Mouse from selling its movies through services like iTunes, and is asking for those profits as damages in its suit.

- Mike Curtis reports that the Red Digital Cinema camera will be used on its first studio feature starting next month. The Universal production stars Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. But it seems that the brand-new Red camera will be used primarily for visual effects shots, not principal photography.

- Variety has some juicy business details on yesterday's announcement of a new, as-yet-unnamed video site that NBC and News Corp. will create together. And Mark Cuban tells you why he thinks the site is such a great idea. His analysis is really sharp, especially this point:

This new venture, if it can launch in the next few months, will hit the ground with more and better content, and more monetization options than Google. It's a unique opportunity to set the rules of how video advertising is sold. Something Google thought they had wrapped up when they bought Youtube.