Playstation 3 to offer Freeview and video-on-demand in Europe by Christmas?

August 1, 2007 – Sony’s Playstation 3 games console is to offer video-on-demand services and Freeview television across Europe and other export markets by this Christmas, according to trade paper MCV.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) is expected to make a number of significant announcements at next month’s Leipzig Games Convention in Germany, according to MCV.  A price cut for the Playstation 3 is also expected in Europe before Christmas.

SCEE’s President and CEO, David Reeves, commented recently that Sony will let off the first of its peak season “fireworks” in Leipzig next month, and also acknowledged that Sony has been treading water throughout the summer – something which it appears is set to change.

In related news, the Head of Marketing at Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand, Warwick Light, recently said in an interview that: “We’re hoping next year – about the same time that Freeview launches its terrestrial broadcasting service [in New Zealand] – to release a digital tuner for the PS3, turning it into a programmable TV recorder.” 

Light was also shed on Sony’s home networking plans for the console, using the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) protocol: “It means I can have my laptop, and my PS3 can wirelessly detect movies, or music, or pictures stored on it and stream it to my TV," the executive added.  "That content will appear on the PS3’s X-media bar.”