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Report: Sony In Talks To Roll Out Cable Competitor
This hardware generation has expanded users' ideas of what a gaming console can be, as they reach beyond mere game-playing devices. The PS2 brought the DVD format into many households, and Sony and Microsoft's console technology has continued to evolve, incorporating streaming music, video, and more. If reports are to be believed, Sony could be taking its video services a step further.
Variety cites sources who say the company is in talks with several content providers, whose content could be bundled and sold on the PS3 and other connected devices such as Bravia TV sets and Blu-ray players in a service that could compete with cable. It would differ from Microsoft's Comcast Xfinity support, in that it would allow new users to access the content instead of extending it to existing subscribers.
According to Variety, the service wouldn't allow users to pick and choose their channels, but they would be bundled together in a package similar to cable. One advantage such a service would have over cable competitors would be its nationwide availability, as opposed to regional service areas. If the sources are to be believed, we could see the fruits of these negotiations in the U.S. before the end of 2013.
Sony hasn't offered any statement beyond the usual "We don't comment on rumors or speculation."
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