Being the the incredibly popular video sharing site that it is YouTube obviously has to keep pushing the boundaries and stay at the forefront of things and that is why, as the latest of many ventures it has come up with lately, YouTube has been working on the concept of 3D TV for sometime as the technology has developed and grown around the world.

YouTube already have 3D videos available such as the one below, but they can only be viewed using the old style Red and Green 3D glasses or bizarrely by crossing your eyes!

A statement released by a Sony executive stated that YouTube would be part of the upcoming 3D offering authored by Sony. Specifically that YouTube 3D footage would be available in less than a year and that PlayStation 3 owners would be able to enjoy them on their systems. PlayStation 3 will also offer playback of 3D pictures and movies that you take with your 3D Sony camcorder.

In what is sure to get the mouths of all early 3D TV adopters watering, Sky have today announced the fixtures they will be televising for the first period of the new football season up until November. Going forward this season they will have all televised matches available in HD, and selected matches available in 3D. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for 3D broadcasts with coverage matching that of HD broadcasts within a year or two once demand for the service picks up. Although exact fixtures that will be shown in Sky 3D have not yet been announced, I think it is safe to assume that all the ‘headline’ games such as the North London, Merseyside, and Manchester derbies are likely to be shown in 3D.

The 3D service will work with all existing Sky+ HD boxes, and will even initially be introduced at no extra cost for customers subscribing to Sky’s top TV package and the Sky HD pack.

In what should be great news for all amongst us looking to get onboard with 3DTV technology, Virgin Media‘s executive director of digital entertainment, Cindy Rose, has told the Telegraph of plans to provide a rival 3DTV service to that supplied by Sky. Set to launch later this year, presumably pretty much at the same time as Sky’s offering, details are scarce at the moment but will no doubt comes as good news for Virgin subscribers looking to the future of their television viewing.

We would envisage sports, films, and regular programming being made available in 3D. Also expected is Virgin looking into bringing 3D to the TV on demand market that they have, up to now, spearheaded so successfully.

BSkyB yesterday announced that the uptake of its Sky+HD service has nearly doubled in comparison to the same period last year, 428,000 new subscribers in comparison to 243,000,  they are putting this down to the imminent release of their first residential 3D Channel later this year. Already over 1000 pubs are regularly showing English Premier league football matches, and we understand that some cinema chains are also looking to get in on the act, especially with the World Cup around the corner in the summer.

Sky’s release said:

“The launch of Sky 3D, Europe’s first 3D TV channel, has got off to a good start, with more than 1,000 venues signed up so far. We’re on track to bring 3D to residential customers later this year along with our new video-on-demand service, Sky Anytime+.  All of this will be available through our existing HD box.”