Sony Pictures Television announced today that online retailers will soon be able to offer Sony content for download in DivX format. The news came as part of a partnership with DivX, Inc. that will also let those files be playable on DivX Certified devices. "We are dedicated to finding legitimate outlets for our content and to that end are excited to be working with DivX to provide retailers with an expanded ecosystem for the digital distribution and playback of our digital media," said Sony Pictures executive VP of Digital Distribution & Mobile Entertainment, Michael Arrieta.
A spokesperson for DivX, Kristina Weise, told Ars that this would offer consumers high-quality Hollywood content in DivX for the first time ever, and that the deal would cover "all titles in the Sony Pictures Television library." She also said that all titles would be download-to-own, but that there will be some type of unspecified DRM. Tracking down those DivX Sony movies might be a challenge, though. "We have no announcements with retailers at this time," she told us.
The news comes just a few weeks after Sony added official DivX support to its PlayStation 3, which had been announced in November. Microsoft beat Sony to the punch, however, with its fall update to the Xbox 360 that included support for DivX. At the very least, owners of next-gen consoles (save the Wii, of course) will be able to watch Sony's movies whenever they become available. When will that be? Wise said that the movies will be available in DivX format on the same day as the DVD release of each title. Assuming there will be retailers to sell it, that is.
The move is definitely good news for the DivX camp, which hails the deal as the first with a major content distributor. Fans of shows from Sony - which include such hits as
Jeopardy!,
Dawson's Creek, and
Seinfeld - can rejoice, because they'll finally have a legal way to download their favorite shows.
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Ars Technica
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