50p on your first pint for 3D in the pub

Sports fans could be charged 50p on their first pint to watch 3D TV in pubs when Sky launches its new service later this April.

Sky is considering ways to sell 3D when it goes live in April, with sports coverage expected to feature heavily in the line-up - and football at the very top.

TV trade mag Broadcast tipped April for the launch as it revealed other options such as an exclusive deal with one pub chain.

The service will launch in pubs and bars before the home because Sky is keen to demonstrate the difference between its 3D and anaglyph 3D such as that used by Channel 4 last year.

Chief engineer Chris Johns, Sky's answer to Star Trek's Scotty, said: "There are several routes we could go down.

In conjunction with landlords, 50p could be put on a price of a pint in return for a take-away pair of glasses. Or we could offer the 3DTV service exclusively to a national pub chain which would expect to see a rise in numbers of customers.

"There is also the possibility of putting advertising branding on the glasses themselves."

Sony, Samsung and JVC and Panasonic have all picked RealD to provide glasses for their 3D TVs, which are due to go on sale in the UK this Spring.

Standard RealD glasses cost about 60p to produce, but eventually you could bring your own if you have a 3D TV with RealD at home.