3SNtv, a research project of Zakros InterArts, proposes a 24/7 artist‑television channel for live, spatial media. Until now, the performance of 3D audio has resided primarily in research labs, production studios, and specialized venues. We see the future as the online dissemination of immersive broadcasting from the studio to the home system: a seamless pipeline that delivers the performance of spatially composed networked music and video art to consumer playback systems. The project is built on Zakros’ Telematic Theater—a Max‑authored virtual mise-en-scène for online performance—to deliver object‑based immersive audio with remote performers and synchronized visuals to multichannel sound systems, head‑mounted displays, or binaural headphones.
Technically, the delivery pipeline centers on object authoring in the SPAT/DAW ecosystem, the transport of 4K video, 9.1.6 audio, and scene/object metadata, and adaptive rendering for heterogeneous endpoints (3D layouts, surround, binaural) over OTT home theater and head-mounted display paths. The broadcast stream couples 3D audio with correlated visual staging; where exposed metadata affords listener agency—speech priority/intelligibility, audio object position/width, and room acoustics—plus captions and real‑time translation—without compromising mix integrity.
Artistically and collaboratively, 3SNtv operates as a form of social broadcasting: a peer‑to‑peer artists’ network that interlinks distributed studios and venues as programmable nodes. Through the channel, Zakros collaborates with research labs, universities, and arts organizations to conduct research—as well as program live performances, audiovisual playlists, artist interviews, and public dialogues—sustaining a continuous linear stream where theater, electronic music, and media‑arts experimentation reach global audiences. We invite composers, engineers, and acousticians to co‑author repertoire, host research nodes, and refine standards‑aware practices for truly live, interactive spatial media.
3SNtv is a research collaboration of Randall Packer, Jean-Marc Jot, Theophile Clet, Federico Foderaro, and leading experts in spatial audio as documented in the 3D Audio Dialogues series of online exploratory discussions, which included researchers, scholars and artists from IRCAM, NYU Music Technology Program, Hamburg University of Music and Drama, among others.