Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai disclosed at the CES 2014 keynote address the company's plan to venture into Internet-based pay TV service and video game streaming. The new services aim to answer the need of consumers for content with flexible access. However, Hirai only revealed very limited details about the services that blend live and on-demand content.
The cloud-based TV service that will be available in the United States next year has not been tagged with a particular name. The company's move will pit it directly against the likes of DirectTV and Comcast, but according to Hirai, Sony is not trying to compete with cable providers but is in talks with potential partners that can provide the content consumers are looking for.
"We're really just trying to bring a new experience of TV viewing -- that combines live TV but make it seamless so that you're also accessing other streamed content as well.We always talk about it as an industry but we've never really been able to bring that together. I think we have the opportunity of doing something unique," Hirai explained.
"We're going to talk about the partnerships that we are developing at the appropriate time. We're not trying to compete with the cable operators. I think what we're trying to do is resolve the biggest hurdles that a lot of consumers have -- and that is watching live TV on one device, watching streaming video on another device. And we just want to try and make it convenient for customers to access all kinds of different content," he added.
The company will count on millions of Sony devices already in the living rooms of consumers and they will have personalized menus to cater the needs of each member of the family.
Sony also announced PlayStation Now that will give PlayStation owners access to games of previous versions of the console such as the PlayStation 2 and 3. The service will also allow video game lovers to play the old games on their computers, tablets, smartphones, and TVs. Beta testing of the service will start at the end of the month with full rollout expected before the end of the year.
"We're going to talk more in detail about the subscription service itself and rates (at a future time). We want to certainly start out with PS3 titles, obviously first- and third-party (titles). The more the merrier. We're going to try to get the best titles people are looking for and those will be the priority," Hirai told reporters after the keynote address.
Hirai also touched on wearable technologies and shared that Sony sees a great potential in wearables.
As for 4K TVs, Hirai emphasized that Sony is in it for a long haul and it will wait for the market to be ready for products that will "wow" them, citing, as example, how color TV and HDTV took a while before taking flight.
