Sony Brings Television to PS3 and PSP

Good news for European gamers: Sony is bringing television to PS3 and PSP, thanks to its joint venture with British Sky Broadcasting.

'Go!,' which is set to launch early next year, will allow users to download videos to their gaming system. Sports, entertainment, movies, music and animation programming will be available from Sky, in addition to some third-party content. Another product called PlayTV will allow users to record television programs and then transfer it to a PS3 or PSP.

Unfortunately, the new service will only be available in Europe. Europe and the US use different systems to deliver digital television, and Sony has decided to support only Europe's DVBT standard and not the ATSC standard used in the US. (Source: wired.com)

The technical aspects will be developed mostly by Sky, while Sony will deal with the marketing. "This really will make PSP the standout all-in-one portable gaming, video and music device," assured Sony's Computer Entertainment Europe president David Reeves. (Source: betanews.com)

Surely, Sony execs are counting on Reeves' optimistic prediction being true. PS3 was launched as more of an all-around entertainment unit than a gaming system in hopes that it would outshine its competitors. As of June, however, about 4.3 million units of the console had sold. That's only half the amount of Wii consoles sold and well behind Microsoft's 11.6 million Xbox 360 units.

Sony said that it will begin launching PlayTV in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany and Spain, with other European countries to follow. The company has not yet revealed the price of the service. (Source: timesonline.co.uk)