Pow! A boxer uses his last ounce of strength to land a crushing blow and his sweat appears to fly into your living room. Thump! Wayne Rooney wallops the ball towards the goal and you duck as it seems to be heading straight for your head.

Welcome to the world of 3-D television, the next leap forward in home entertainment being lined up by BSkyB. Gerry O'Sullivan, Sky director of strategic product development, said that a service “could be launched any time in the next two years”, depending on the results of trials and on ensuring there was enough content available.

Viewers would have to wear glasses, although the flimsy red and green sheets of plastic mounted on card will have been replaced by a pair of black plastic polarising sunglasses. Apart from a 3-D television set, no equipment beyond a high-definition service is required.

Panasonic and other manufacturers have said that they are close to launching 3-D sets. Those that are compatible with the Sky service are simply a high-definition set with an additional polarising layer over the screen, and some simple consumer electronics added.

Sky's trial used an imported set made by Hyundai priced at about £2,200, but it believes that 3-D sets should not cost much more than a high-definition set, versions of which start at £325. In reality, prices are likely to be significantly higher, as manufacturers try to attach a premium.

The satellite broadcaster, which is 39.1 per cent-owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times, has not discussed pricing, but Mr O'Sullivan said that there was “very little incremental cost all through the chain”, meaning that the extra technology would be unlikely to cost the company more than its high-definition service.

The 3-D technology uses normal high-definition television cameras, which are positioned in pairs, replicating how the eyes work.

Sky technologists are working out how the cameras would have to be positioned at a football match for the effect to work. Boxing is thought to be particularly attractive to the company because people are willing to pay for a single fight and it requires relatively few cameras.

Sky charges £9.75 a month for its high-definition service, in addition to the cost of a normal package, which peaks at £46 a month.

Interim results released yesterday showed that high-definition subscriptions increased by 188,000 to 779,000 in the fourth quarter, despite the deterioration in the economy, out of a total subscriber base of 9.23million.

The interest in 3-D reflects Sky's belief that new broadcasting technologies will work to its advantage because satellite broadcasting has huge capacity at its disposal, while the no-cost Freeview digital alternative has the capacity to launch only four high-definition channels.

Sky's results also showed that customers are, as yet, undeterred by the price of its products. It added 171,000 new pay-television customers in the fourth quarter overall, compared with last year's 167,000, and average revenues per customer rose from £421 last year to £444 in 2008, as subscribers added its broadband, telephone and high-definition services.

Jeremy Darroch, chief executive, said that the company wanted 30 per cent of its customers to sign up for high definition, adding it was “not unreasonable” to assume that three million would sign up to the technology by the time of the London Olympic Games in 2012.

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