CES 2014: Sony to Launch Live and VOD Cloud TV Service
Sony will launch an as-yet-unnamed cloud-based TV service featuring live and VOD content later this year in the U.S, president and CEO, Kazuo Hirai revealed during his keynote at CES 2014 in Las Vegas.
The service will be distinguished by a personalized interface which will serve up recommendations, Sony said. It will feature a "watch and resume" function spanning multiple devices from a PS4 to a tablet.
“Our goal is to transform the user experience so that finding live and VOD is immediate,” explained Andrew House, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. “We will make TV a more personalized and dynamic experience.”
No more details were forthcoming. Also coming soon is new streaming game service Playstation Now.
“This will provide existing gamers access to PS2 and PS3 games and will introduce the world of Playstation to non-console owners via smartphones, tablets, and other devices,” said House. “For first time ever you can play blockbuster PS3 titles on a mobile phone.”
The service goes into beta in the U.S. later this month with full rollout inked for the summer. Examples of it in action over Bravia TVs and Vita mobile devices are being demonstrated at the Sony booth at CES.
Also at the keynote, Michael Lynten chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said SVOD services like Netflix had changed content delivery economics dramatically.
“Now we have five to six SVOD services competitively bidding on TV series and films that never existed before, both in first run as well as syndication. It has changed the economics dramatically for us, but in a positive way,” he said.
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