Sony to test Playstation-based cloud TV service

[soniqstylz]

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Sony Corp will begin testing a new television service that combines traditional viewing with on-demand content through its PlayStation gaming system, a cloud-based service could possibly change long-established cable and media industry relationships.

Sony executives described the as-yet unnamed service on Tuesday as a blend of live cable, on-demand and DVR content. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, they promised an intuitive design for searching for content - addressing a common complaint of cable customers.

Sony's embryonic effort builds on similar moves by Microsoft Corp and Intel Corp. Viewers could buy viewing packages through Sony, much as customers now do through cable operators like Comcast. As envisioned, the service would allow subscribers to play games, call up TV shows and movies, and tune into broadcast channels via a single box.

It was unclear how advanced Sony's project was. It did not announce any deals with media companies, but said details will be forthcoming and the service will be tested and unveiled this year.

Sony CEO Kaz Hirai told reporters on Tuesday the company had struck up "a good dialogue" with content holders, or media companies. But he stopped short of describing the impact on the cable industry.

Hirai denied that Sony's service would compete with pay TV companies such as Comcast or DirecTV even though it plans to sell consumers a package of live television channels, which they currently get through cable providers.

"We're offering live TV and we're combining it with other video services... We don't set out to do this and say we're going to compete with cable companies," he told reporters. "Whether you believe it's competitive or not, that's your question."

Sony, which already owns a major film and entertainment production business, says it is trying to create a more personal service for consumers accustomed to getting much of their TV content through cable providers.

Intel Corp also tried to shake up the traditional TV industry with Intel TV. But the chipmaker has struggled to seal deals with major media corporations, and is looking to sell the business.

Negotiations between new players and entrenched cable and media industry companies have been tricky. Industry sources say the difficulty of working out subscriber fees, plus media providers' reluctance to jeopardize long-established relationships and businesses, have complicated efforts by Apple and Intel to stream content directly off the cloud and into living rooms.

TOUCH AND GO

Hirai said the Playstation's installed user-base of about 70 million households gave Sony a competitive advantage.

Microsoft Corp, the other big purveyor of gaming consoles, is also battling for a slice of the increasingly crowded living-room entertainment space. It plans to develop its own programs while ensuring that the Xbox One console streams popular media apps such as Netflix.

Meanwhile, on-demand services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon's Instant Video are rapidly expanding their audience.

"For years, consumer electronics companies have tried in various forms to transform the living room and the home entertainment experience because it is fundamentally outdated and flawed," Playstation chief Andrew House told the Las Vegas crowd earlier on Tuesday.

House also said Sony has sold 4.2 million PlayStation 4 game consoles as of December 28, surpassing the 3 million Microsoft Xbox One devices sold as of end-2013.

Sony also plans to launch "PlayStation Now" this summer, a service that will stream games from remote cloud-based servers to consoles, TVs, tablets and smartphones, House said.

That cloud-gaming service incorporates technology from Gaikai, a California-based company Sony acquired for $380 million in 2012.

On Tuesday, shares in Gamestop Inc plunged 8.4 percent to $44.14 on fears that the cloud-based gaming service -- which can stream older games to the PS4 -- will jeopardize the retailer's large and growing used-game business.

(Additional reporting by Malathi Nayak in San Francisco, writing by Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Chang and David Gregorio)

 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/sns-rt-us-ces-sony-20140107,0,3038775.story

[trooper11]

Well this was rumored before the ps4 launched and here it is finally.

Sony is moving along as I expected, rolling out their ambitious entertainment push which will heavily involve the ps4.

I can't wait to see what they come up with. Its a lot of vague promises at this point, there are details we need to know before anything can be evaluated.

MS has been trying so hard to reach a deal with content providers to really grow the content they can offer directly to X1 users but keep hitting a brick wall. It got so bad they decided to spend millions setting up their own content studio until they could break down that wall so to speak. Its probably also why they built the hdmi-in features into the X1 as a stop gap.

Sony on the other hand, has a strong advantage. For one thing, they are already a content creator and that means any service they want to offer can boast a large catalog of content day one without any effort (along with having the option to start holding their content as 'exclusive' to their platform). That also means they have much more leverage to put pressure on other content providers to play ball and get on board. Sony may have the best chance of making it happen.

Its too bad it sounds like they will aim at a single subscription service that mimics a cable tv subscription. I was hoping to see them also try an a la cart service like MS has talked about, but its early in the process and Sony may end up doing that before its launched.

[spenser.d]

Uh oh, they're not concentrating on games, better go return your PlayStations! /s

It'll be interesting to see what they can bring to the table with this.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Streaming media is currently much better suited to the cloud than gaming, so this is an obvious and expected move. While more competition is great, we are going to end up in a situation where you want to watch your favourite shows and you need to sub to 20 different services as each has exclusive deals... That is the major downside.

[GotBored]

Its too bad it sounds like they will aim at a single subscription service that mimics a cable tv subscription. I was hoping to see them also try an a la cart service like MS has talked about, but its early in the process and Sony may end up doing that before its launched.

 

Sony Store allows you to purchase movies/tv shows individually or even rent them individually on the PS4, or do you mean a single channel subscription instead of entertainment/movie/sports packages?

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Streaming media is currently much better suited to the cloud than gaming, so this is an obvious and expected move. While more competition is great, we are going to end up in a situation where you want to watch your favourite shows and you need to sub to 20 different services as each has exclusive deals... That is the major downside.

 

We're already in that position now IMO.

 

I've taken a break from on demand services because the catalogues are so inconsistent. I would literally have to subscribe to 3 different services to get everything I want.

[trooper11]

Sony Store allows you to purchase movies/tv shows individually or even rent them individually on the PS4, or do you mean a single channel subscription instead of entertainment/movie/sports packages?

You got it, I'm talking about channel subscriptions. I know its a pipe dream, but if someone could offer a tv-like service that allowed me to just buy access to the channels I wanted, that would be great. I don't watch enough cable to make it worth it but I would happily pay for say the half dozen channels I do want to watch.

With Sony's strength in media, maybe they could be the ones to make it happen, but right now it sounds like their plans are more traditional in nature.

I have little interest in buying most tv shows. Every so often there might be a tv show that I want to keep and own, but most of the time, I just watch it and move on. Going with a streaming service like Netflix is just not good enough for me because none of the current services offer all the content I'm looking for, plus no live viewing options.