Sony released a few new details about its planned over-the-top video service at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. The company confirmed during a keynote presentation Tuesday morning that it is planning to test a cloud-based TV service.
The service will include a mix of live TV and video on demand from online providers such as Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), according to a report in Variety. Expectations that Sony would enter the online pay-TV market have been high after the Wall Street Journal reported last year that it had reached a deal with Viacom (NYSE: VIA) to offer its networks online.
The service, which Sony referred to as "cloud-based TV," does not yet have a name or an announced list of programming suppliers. Its executives stressed that its installed base of web-connected Sony devices is large enough to give it a critical mass of potential customers.
The development is the latest in the will-they-or-won't-they saga of potential online pay-TV deployments. Late last year Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) apparently abandoned plans to introduce a similar service. Intel has been reportedly in talks to sell the technology behind it to Verizon (NYSE: VZ).
For more:
- Variety had this report
- CNN had this report
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