Sony has already used the trojan horse that is the Playstation 3 to win the high definition DVD format war, with Blu-ray killing off HD DVD at the beginning of the year. Now it looks like the company has a new target – Online video distribution.
The PS3 is currently battling with the Xbox 360 for second place in this generation of games consoles behind the now BBC iPlayer equipped Nintendo Wii. Both consoles have their advantages over the other, but the Xbox wins when it comes to online services.
Microsoft realised very quickly that the online sector for video was going to grow over the next few years, so built Xbox Live to future proof itself, and the console.
Xbox Live Success
The service currently boasts 10 million subscribers, and plays host to 4,800 hours of video, a quarter of them in high definition. The content is a combination of movies, currently numbering 350 and over 5,000 episodes of shows such as Desperate Housewives and Lost.
Sony has so far been left behind, though it’s been promising some kind of online video offering for a couple of years, with the Playstation Portable well overdue the service.
It may now finally be about to deliver on its promises though, with the LA Times reporting that the PS3 is indeed about to get its own video distribution service, and what’s more, it’ll be built on open standards.
Playstation 3 Finally Catching Up?
The newspaper claims to have been in contact with studio executives who are aware of the plan, and who say that it could arrive as early as this summer, although we’ve heard hat before.
Apparently, Sony has been in negotiation talks with studios over licensing content for distribution on its new service, which will see movies and television shows flowing from the Internet in to people’s living rooms via their Playstation 3.
Sony hasn’t had much luck in this department in the past, with Movielink, and Sony Connect both being failed attempts to plug in to the potential of Web-based content distribution models. Let’s hope it has more luck this time.
Installed User Base To Battle Competition
It certainly has a chance of doing well, despite being beaten to the punch by the aforementioned Xbox Live. There are now 9 million Playstation 3 consoles installed in people’s homes, which is a sizeable ready-made audience to sell to.
To succeed however, the service will have to compete with Xbox Live, as well as set-top boxes such as Apple TV and Vudu. One definite advantage would be Sony’s proposed plans to forego prohibitive DRM in favour of open standards.
At the moment this is all conjecture, but an official announcement is expected sometime this week. The service could then be unveiled in detail at the E3 conference in July.
