Gaming muscles in on television sector

It’s been touted for months, but now it finally looks as though Sony and Microsoft are preparing a charm offensive to snare the lucrative customer base of established TV and movie-on-demand specialists.

After announcing a combined TV tuner and personal video recorder for PS3 in Leipzig last week, Sony has left the door open on a deal to house Sky content on its next-gen system.

And Microsoft has said that it will be working to ensure its current customers use its upcoming video-on-demand service instead of migrating to current market leaders Sky and Virgin Media.

Microsoft product manager for Xbox Live Robin Burrows told MCV:

We hope that if there is the same film on our service and on Sky or Virgin, our audience would download it through our video marketplace. We offer consumers the USP of being able to still be connected to their friends’ communities.”

Sony’s upcoming Go! branded video download service for PSP has been created in tandem with Sky – and the firm hasn’t ruled out extending this commercial partnership to its flagship console. UK marketing director Alan Duncan told MCV:

At the moment, the relationship with Sky is based on delivering content to the PSP platform via a PC interface, or directly using Wi-Fi. Once this is established, we may look at extending the relationship to other areas.”