Sony may spark movie download war with Telstra Bigpond

Adam Turner
Tuesday, 24 April 2007 20:23

Opinion and Analysis

By snapping up a million dollar share of struggling ReelTime.tv, Sony may spark a video on demand war with Australia's 800 pound internet gorilla - Telstra Bigpond.

While it's good news that ReelTime.tv will live to fight another day, the big news is that Sony Pictures Entertainment is its saviour. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has already flagged a video download service for its Playstation 3, so it's highly possible Sony has plans to turn ReelTime.tv into an Australian VoD service for Australian PS3 owners.

ReelTime.tv's greatest rival is Telstra's BigPond Movies service, while the PS3's greatest rival is Microsoft's Xbox 360. BigPond Movies is closely affiliated with Microsoft - at the Australian launch of Windows Vista in January, Microsoft announced that Australians could download videos from BigPond Movies via an Xbox 360 or a Vista media center PC. ReelTime is also Xbox 360-compatible, drawing even more attention to Sony's lack on a VoD service. By aligning itself with ReelTime, Sony is following the age old maxim; "My enemy's enemy is my friend".

If any company is up to the task of challenging Bigpond in the video on demand space, it's Sony. Like Telstra, Sony has deep pockets, a ruthless streak and a powerful propaganda machine - just look at how it's fighting the Blu-ray versus HD DVD format war.

Neither Telstra nor Sony are fond of losing, but in an online battle Telstra has the home ground advantage. Bigpond's market dominance and measly download caps give it a massive advantage. Many Bigpond customers don't have the monthly data allowance to download movies, but BigPond gets around this by not counting downloads from BigPond Movies towards the download limits of BigPond customers. With its minuscule download limits BigPond has created an artificial walled garden - you don't need fences when you cut people off at the knees so they can't go anywhere else.

Sony versus Telstra promises to be an interesting showdown but, looking closer at ReelTime's announcement, a few other key players emerge in the brewing video on demand war. CONTINUED