The DVD rental company Quickflix today announced a new subscription service in conjunction with Sony Australia that will see content streamed directly to internet enabled Bravia TVs.
The agreement with Sony means that Quickflix will stream movies to all Sony Bravia Internet Video (SBIV)-connected televisions, as well as compatible Sony Blu-ray players, Home Theatre systems and computers.
Quickflix Chief Executive Officer, Mr Chris Taylor called the partnership a "watershed moment". Taylor acknowledged that the digital library would "start off small", but the company's long-term plan is to deliver "the largest range of movies" to living rooms in Australia.
Curiously, the PlayStation 3 video game console was absent from the Quickflix announcement. We quizzed Chris Taylor about this, who explained that the deal is between Quickflix and Sony Home and Consumer Electronics Australia – not Sony Computer Entertainment Australia (SCEA).
“The PlayStation 3 is owned by a completely different part of Sony. Our current agreement is with Sony Electronics, which [includes] Bravia TVs, Blu-ray players, home theatres and VAIOs,” Taylor said.
Taylor acknowledged that the company was talking to other manufacturers “but today is all about Sony Electronics".
A launch date has yet to be announced, but Taylor said the company was confident that the service will appear “sometime this year”. Meanwhile, pricing for the subscription service is still being "discussed internally", Taylor said.
Last month, Sony Australia added movies to its own streaming service, Qriocity. This service is available for network connected Bravia TVs, Sony Blu-ray players, home theatre systems, the PS3 console and Google Android. You can find out more about the Qriocity movie service here.
