Sony follows Microsoft’s lead and also gives Canadians the finger
[UPDATE – In an article on the gloabeandmail.com Matt Levitan, marketing and PR representative for PlayStation Canada is quoted as saying – “It’s a top priority for us to get it up as quickly as possible” How soon that is remains to be seen]
On Tuesday Sony held their E3 press conference, and just like Microsoft they, too, now have downloadable movies available through their Playstation Store. This is not a deal with a third party, like Netflix, but something more akin to what has been available on the Xbox 360 for quite some time. Even though Sony is also a major producer of movie content, they have stated that they will be carrying content from all the studios, in both SD and HD. Lastly, it was announced that the movie store would be going live the very same evening.
Nothing was mentioned in the conference about which regions this would be limited to, and since it was not a partnership with a US third party such as Netflix, many Canadian PS3 owners logged in on Tuesday night hoping to find a nice selection of SD and HD movies to download. That was not the case. Just like when Microsoft started offering movies and TV shows on Xbox Live, Canadians have been left out in the cold, and many of them are pretty pissed. Unlike Microsoft, Sony is a content producer and distributor, so even it was only for films from Sony’s own studios, they could have made some films available to Canada. Microsoft eventually figured out how to allow Canadians to download a limited selection of movies and TV shows.
Of course all this Microsoft and Sony bashing could be for nothing since it is quite likely that the real culprits behind our lack of choice when it comes to legitimate movie downloads are Rogers and Bell, who more than likely strong-armed Sony into keeping this service from us lest it infringe on the cable and satellite entertainment duopoly that they have in Canada.
