Sony claims PS3 being first with high definition movies of major studios

18th March, 2010 by adina
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Sony recently claimed its PSN video service being the first to get high definition movies from all six major studios. Apart from its own Sony Pictures, the company has deals that allow buying and renting high definition movies on the PlayStation 3 from Fox, Paramount, Disney, Warner and Universal. There was no mention of price changes as part of these additions and the agreement is a non-exclusive one. The new added content is for now available in the United States and other countries like Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom will receive new studio content very soon.

For Sony the win is symbolic. Its console sales trail those of Microsoft and Nintendo, but the PS3 continues to be one of the most popular media players for living rooms and has become a default Blu-ray player, although its Internet movie service is less popular than iTunes or the Zune Video Marketplace on the Xbox 360. The console recently added Netflix streaming and has benefited from price cuts, becoming more competitive with Apple TV, Xbox 360 and other devices that had lower prices.

The expansion opens new opportunities to similar deals at other locations and potentially promises other movie services. Studios have been reluctant to agree high definition movie sales and rentals as they potentially generate cut into Blu-ray sales that are still expected to take over from DVDs in a near future. Many studios have extended deals with a series of movie retailers potentially threatened by online-only users. Sony has a partial conflict of interest as it has been the creator and supporter of Blu-Ray.


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