It seems strange that it has taken this long for the Premier League to welcome something that will enhance the marketability of the league, but it seems that local planning permission was the main stumbling block preventing the use of the widely popular system that many football fans will already be familiar with.
That issue is no longer a problem and Old Trafford will be kitted out to utilise the camera, which is suspended above the pitch by a series of cables in order to give fans an even closer look at the action.
The technology has been around since the 80s but has been adopted by FIFA and UEFA in recent times, and a good example of what it offers can be seen from the first replay of Luis Suarez's goal for Barcelona against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey last night.
Understandably, Sky Sports are absolutely delighted to be able to offer more angles of Premier League coverage, and a spokesperson told the Daily Mail what we can expect to see from this weekend onwards.
A game as big as Manchester United against Liverpool feels like the right time to use it for the first time in a Premier League fixture. It is one of the biggest games in world football and the intention is to get the viewer closer to the game, which is what this technology enables.
It will mostly come into its own at set-pieces, like free-kicks, corners or penalties, when it can go directly above the action and give you the fullest view looking down directly on what is happening. I think it will become a big tool in analysis — Jamie Carragher and Thierry Henry will be using it on Monday Night Football.
Cool.
Ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, FIFA released this video to inform people what that strange box flying about above the pitch was, and you can learn more about how it's rigged up by watching it.
We're patiently waiting for the day someone nails it with a goal kick, and the uproar that would no doubt follow. 'Spidercam' has been a feature of cricket coverage for some time, where that very situation has happened before.
