Sony, Studios Ready VOD
By SCOTT HETTRICK -- Multichannel News, 1/21/2001 7:00:00 PM
Sony Corp. of America is targeting an April launch for its Internet video-on-demand movie service and expects to have several major studios on board, according to sources.
The Sony service is technically ready to launch and could bow as early as next month, Sony Corp. of America president Howard Stringer said on Jan. 5. The studio, however, is waiting to nail down another studio partner or two.
No other studio has finalized a licensing deal with Sony, but sources close to the talks say that Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. are close to agreements and Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures are interested. Warner reiterated last week that the studio "remains in the active discussions" with Sony.
Universal and MGM also confirmed they are in talks with Sony, among others. Reports have indicated that Sony is trying to build a service that would undercut third-party efforts to offer Internet movies on demand.
But sources at Sony say the company will make its movies available to other parties on a licensing basis, as well as to other studios that build their own Internet VOD services. The Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox are believed to be building such services and have not discussed licensing their movies to others.
To avoid undercutting the home-video market, at least at this early stage, Sony's service would introduce movies on the Internet in the same window as pay-per-view-about 30 to 90 days after home video.
An Internet-based VOD movie service could pose a major blow to PPV distributors such as In Demand, which seeks to obtain on-demand rights for the cable industry. Cable executives, however, have downplayed such Web-based ventures. Cable's current infrastructure is more reliable and more secure than the Internet, they contend.
Although regulatory, technical and copyright issues need to be resolved before movies can be delivered via the Internet, Sony has said it's eager to get a payment-based service going before an independent service like Napster Inc. threatens to undermine Internet film distribution.
Scott Hettrick is the editor in chief of Video Business , a sister publication of Multichannel News.R. Thomas Umstead contributed to this story.
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