A recent HDGuru report, citing inside sources in-the-know, said that DirecTV intends officially unveiling its new 3D channel at the Las Vegas CES on January 7, and the channel would likely hit the airwaves “early next year.”

As per HDGuru, the new 3D channel, in case the buzz turns out to be a real deal, would be the first in the US; and will swank a mix of “movies, sports, and other programs” in 3D, largely because of a burst of bandwidth that has been made available by the launch of a new Boeing 702-model DirecTV satellite on Tuesday.

However, since the operations of the recently-launched DirecTV satellite would commence only by March, it can be presumed that the new 3D channel would make its appearance by next spring, which might just be in time for the arrival of “Avatar” as a 3D pay-per-view experience.

The HDGuru report further said that with DirecTV likely to offer a free firmware update for its current HDTV set-top boxes, the existing DirecTV subscribers would probably not require either a new dish or any other device.

Nonetheless, viewers would require 3D glasses to view the telecasts on the 3D-enabled HDTVs – like the DLP-powered Samsung 3D sets currently available in the market, or the new 3D models that would expectedly be announced by Panasonic, Sony, Samsung, JVC and others, at the CES next week.