LAS
VEGAS – Sony unveiled 2010 CE products during its International CES press
conference here are Wednesday night, but it highlighted content partnerships and
agreements for 3D HD and beyond.
Sir
Howard Stringer, Sony’s chairman, president and CEO said is the company’s
intention to “all our resources… to take the lead in 3D” and to illustrate that
will launch later this year a 3D network of its own with the Discovery Channel
and IMAX.
Stringer said it will open the Sony Pictures 3D
Technical Center in Culver City, Calif. to do further research on the format as
well as working with CBS to do 3D consumer research on what types of programming
audiences would like to see in 3D.
Kaz
Hirai, president of Sony Network Products and Services Group, said that its
successful PlayStation Network, which currently has 38 million accounts
worldwide to provide PlayStation owners with games for the platform. The network
will now be expanded to provide standard and HD quality programming for Bravia
TVs, Sony Blu-ray decks and VAIO PCs in the near future. Existing customers can
use their existing IDs to access programming from Sony Pictures, MGM, Warner
Bros., Universal, 20
th
Century Fox, Lion’s Gate, Disney and
Paramount.
Stringer was also on hand, not only to introduce and
greet pop star Taylor Swift, who sang one of her hits live with a 3D broadcast
of the performance in the background, but to greet George Bodenheimer,
co-chairman, Disney Media Networks, and president, ESPN and ABC
Sports.
Stringer congratulated Bodenheimer on ESPN’s
announcement earlier in the day to create ESPN 3D, and he announced that Sony
would become the official sponsor of the channel, when it launches in June.
The
new 3D network will feature a minimum of 85 live sporting events in its first
year, 25 of which will be the FIFA World Cup starting in June when ESPN
inaugurates the new network.
