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Monday 3rd April 2006

Hollywood studios pull plug on Sony Universal Media Disc 10:31AM, Monday 3rd April 2006

It looks as though the Universal Media Disc format on the PlayStation Portable is a dead duck as far as a media for playing movies. It is yet another blow to Sony which has seen a number of setbacks in the past year, leaving some to wonder if the electronics giant can recover its former glory.

Universal Studios and Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment have called a halt to releasing any more movies on the UMD format. Other studios such as 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Buena Vista Home Entertainment are considering drastically cutting back their support for the format.

A Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment exec told the Hollywood Reporter. 'Releasing titles on UMD is the exception rather than the rule. No one's even breaking even on them.' Likewise, an executive at Universal Studios Home Entertainment was heard to say `It's awful. Sales are near zilch. It's another Sony bomb, like Blu-Ray.'

The problem is that while the PlayStation Portable is selling in large amounts, the buyers just seem to want to use it as a handheld games console and are

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not interested in using it as a way of watching films. And US consumers certainly do not want to be paying more than $20 for a movie to watch it only on a small screen.

Sony has been criticised for not equipping the PSP with an S-video jack to allow it to play back on a standard television. It is now rumoured that the PSP division is talking to Sony Studios about the ramifications if such an accessory were offered for the device.

The last thing Sony needs right now is yet another blow to its credibility as it gears up for the crucial release of the Blu-Ray high definition DVD format later this year. The mood at Sony headquarters will not have been improved by the news that rival Toshiba has launched its first HD-DVD play in Japan. The HD-XA1 costs 110,000 yen, or $940 - somewhat more than the $800 price point promised for the US release due later this month.

The news that the major Hollywood Studios are cutting back their commitment to UMD follows the announcement of the delay in the PlayStation 3 launch until November, following disagreement in the Blu-Ray Consortium over the specification of the DRM. Last year, Sony also faced a public relations disaster when it was revealed that its CD copy protection relied on rootkit code, more commonly associated with virus and spyware writers.

Steve Malone

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