PS3 goes to the movies: Sony signs up all major Hollywood studios for HD films

PlayStation Network first to offer HD movies to all

9 March 2010 17:36 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Sony has announced that it has signed a deal with six Hollywood studios to deliver movies to your TV in HD via the PS3.

The company has signed the deal with 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. meaning it is the first to offer films from all the major movie studios direct to your TV via download.

Films already promised include Fantastic Mr Fox, Inglorious Basterds, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and Zombieland.

The news is likely to send widespread panic through video rental firms like BlockBuster and LoveFilm who are already struggling against services like Apple TV, Boxee and Hulu.

Sony has said the new offering will first launch in the US, although has not announced an official timeline for the roll out, but has said that it does have plans to launch in the UK, France, Germany, and Spain shortly afterwards.

The films will be delivered via the PlayStation network,

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Comments

How is this news, unless I'm missing something here, or er getting something extra even. I've been able to download HD movies (Inglorious Bastards, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for instance) for quite a while now via the PS3 network? Posted by Matt, UK
cool.. look forward to it Posted by Ryan, USA
@matt - Because:

A) The films are in HD, very few are HD on PSN at the moment.

B) Playstation 3 will be the only console platform to offer films from all the major film studios. Not even Xbox LIVE has this.

C) It will as the article suggests affect physical rental sales, could help put blockbuster out of business (i know people who work for them and the out look doesn't appear rosy).

D) Sony will be less reliant on Netfilx to deliver streaming movies in America = more money for sony.

E) Expect to see a lot more film content on PSN in the future.

That's why it is news, OK :). Posted by Dan, UK
Yet another reason to love my PS3 Posted by Jay, UK
HD meaning exactly? I'm guessnig 720p or 1080i and not 1080p as these files would be massive unless some bad-ass compression software is used. Posted by Harry David, england
Curious what the rental prices will be? Buy anyways, this is good news for ps3 owners!

http://www.newdgamez.com/#ps3 Posted by james, United States