Sony first with full movies on US mobile TV
updated 03:25 pm EDT, Mon March 31, 2008
Sony PIX on AT&T Mobile TV
Sony AV label Sony Pictures Television on Monday revealed that it would be the first to offer full-length movies on mobile TV in the US. PIX will appear on AT&T's just-announced Mobile TV service and will supply the live-broadcast service with full versions of movies from the collections of Sony and sub-studios such as Columbia. Most movies will be available for one month with a rotation of unseen titles added in every week.
AT&T has not announced pricing for the package that will include PIX, which may offer hints as to the business model; the channel isn't currently expected to serve movies on demand but will rather feature repeating broadcasts. The station may nonetheless provide an advantage for AT&T versus Verizon, whose V CAST TV is largely based on either conventional TV shows or else highlight shows. Sprint currently offers movies on demand but depends on streaming them over a 3G Internet connection, which forces the carrier to compress the videos and drop quality compared to the MediaFLO standard used with the AT&T and Verizon services.
