Sony will charge $30 per movie when its 4K streaming service launches next week

[midian182]

Sony first revealed its 4K streaming service, Ultra, back at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. Now, the company’s home video arm (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) has announced that it will launch on April 4.

The service, accessed via an Android app, will be available exclusively on Sony’s new 4K TV sets. There won’t be a rental option at launch; instead, users will pay $30 to purchase a movie. This was apparently a “commercial decision,” but Sony said if there turns out to be a demand for rentals, the company could introduce the feature “pretty quickly.”

Initially, you’ll only be able to rent movies from Sony Pictures, but the company said it wants to add content from other studios. “Over time, we want to expand the breath and depth of the content,” said Sony Pictures Entertainment VP Jake Winett

Once bought, titles will be stored in Sony’s Ultraviolet cloud service, probably due to the TVs not possessing enough onboard storage to hold 4K movies.

There will be around 40 to 50 titles available on Ultra when it launches, including newer movies such as Concussion and The Walk, as well as older ones like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The company plans to add TV programs at a later date, but it hasn’t revealed which ones or how much they’ll cost.

The service will also offer people the opportunity to upgrade SD and HD movies from their Ultraviolet library to 4K for $12 to $15.

As a way of promoting the Ultra service, Sony is giving away four movies for free to anyone who purchases one of the company’s new 4K TV sets this summer.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/64269-sony-charge-30-movie-when-4k-streaming-service.html

 

[Tosikko]

Is it just me or is does the pricing for 4K content seem incredibly unjustified?

 

[Uncle Al]

The market will tell. Rather hard to believe that enough people are going to be willing to plunk down that kind of cash for a single movie when that kind of scratch buys several months of some of the other on line services ....

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Is it just me or is does the pricing for 4K content seem incredibly unjustified?

Depends - if the movie is brand new, then $30 is what a couple would spend going to the theater.

Nice of Sony to give away a couple free too - sure would suck to spend $30 and get some people together only to find your internet isn't near fast enough.

 

[dirtyferret]

"Sony said if there turns out to be a demand for rentals, the company could introduce the feature pretty quickly." Amazon, itunes, google play , vudu, and M-GO stated there is no demand for rentals while playstation video said WTF??

Anyone else think SONY is a company that is completely off the rails?

 

[davislane1]

"Sony said if there turns out to be a demand for rentals, the company could introduce the feature pretty quickly." Amazon, itunes, google play , vudu, and M-GO stated there is no demand for rentals while playstation video said WTF??

Anyone else think SONY is a company that is completely off the rails?

Comparing Sony's analysis to other companies is useless. This is generally how businesses capture big market shares ahead of their competitors.

A, B, and C Company: There is no market for X.

D Company: Sells to X.

A, B, and C: Begin selling to X because their analysts say the market is totally different now.

 

[risc32]

"Sony said if there turns out to be a demand for rentals, the company could introduce the feature pretty quickly." Amazon, itunes, google play , vudu, and M-GO stated there is no demand for rentals while playstation video said WTF??

Anyone else think SONY is a company that is completely off the rails?

Comparing Sony's analysis to other companies is useless. This is generally how businesses capture big market shares ahead of their competitors.

A, B, and C Company: There is no market for X.

D Company: Sells to X.

A, B, and C: Begin selling to X because their analysts say the market is totally different now.

Simple as that huh? So you're telling me there is a market for what my dog leaves all over my back yard, and I could corner the market? Sweet!
. That plan won't work any more than this Sony plan. Sony might want to stick to sensors, and ps4. But, then with their restructuring, that looks like the plan.

 

[dirtyferret]

Comparing Sony's analysis to other companies is useless. This is generally how businesses capture big market shares ahead of their competitors.

A, B, and C Company: There is no market for X.

D Company: Sells to X.

A, B, and C: Begin selling to X because their analysts say the market is totally different now.

Having worked for a large corporation that owned a streaming service, tv/cable shows, and movie production/distribution I can say this how they think;

A) find out how much the market is willing to pay for the content (some companies do this better then others)
B) purchase/create the content as cheaply as possible and place more money in marketing then content creation

 

[davislane1]

Simple as that huh? So you're telling me there is a market for what my dog leaves all over my back yard

There is. It's called manure.

A) find out how much the market is willing to pay for the content (some companies do this better then others)

Precisely why I think using Amazon et. al. as an evaluative measure is useless. They aren't using the same numbers.

 

[9Nails]

Considering new BR movies are $19 - $39, it's not terrible. And this is priced better than The Screening Room - $50 per movie rental service that was in the news about a month ago. My concern is how you access the movies and if you can view off-line. Well, that and it's owned by Sony, whom I don't trust.

I'd also prefer that a 3rd party, some business other than a studio, be in charge of distribution. I don't want to go to Fox, Universal, and Sony each for a video service. I'd rather have 1 butt to kick when things don't work as they should.

But I'll still pass. If I can get a movie for 50% off through Amazon for a physical copy and convert it to digital later that's how I'm going to go.

 

[dirtyferret]

Precisely why I think using Amazon et. al. as an evaluative measure is useless. They aren't using the same numbers.

I'm not really sure what you are trying to say; that Amazon, google play, itunes, etc., don't have movie rental offerings?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Considering new BR movies are $19 - $39, it's not terrible. And this is priced better than The Screening Room - $50 per movie rental service that was in the news about a month ago. My concern is how you access the movies and if you can view off-line. Well, that and it's owned by Sony, whom I don't trust.

I'd also prefer that a 3rd party, some business other than a studio, be in charge of distribution. I don't want to go to Fox, Universal, and Sony each for a video service. I'd rather have 1 butt to kick when things don't work as they should.

But I'll still pass. If I can get a movie for 50% off through Amazon for a physical copy and convert it to digital later that's how I'm going to go.

This is sony, I doubt they will allow offline viewing of any sort.

And I can see every company doing this, with every major studio having their own service. Convenience be dammed, we must control our entire market!

 

[wiyosaya]

All I have to say to Sony is good luck with that!

 

[wiyosaya]

Considering new BR movies are $19 - $39, it's not terrible. And this is priced better than The Screening Room - $50 per movie rental service that was in the news about a month ago. My concern is how you access the movies and if you can view off-line. Well, that and it's owned by Sony, whom I don't trust.

I'd also prefer that a 3rd party, some business other than a studio, be in charge of distribution. I don't want to go to Fox, Universal, and Sony each for a video service. I'd rather have 1 butt to kick when things don't work as they should.

But I'll still pass. If I can get a movie for 50% off through Amazon for a physical copy and convert it to digital later that's how I'm going to go.

Rather than pay Sony $30 for the rental, I would rather buy the UHD Blu-ray.

 

[danny22]

Good luck with the 30$ I can pay 2 months Netflix with that.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

30 bucks? I wouldn't even pay 3 bucks, not that I watch movies anyway.

 

[j05hh]

That's not rolled into the PlayStation Network for PS4 subscribers? Waste of money to just watch a movie.

 

[Raoul Duke]

I choke on my coffee reading the headline, but I don't go to the theatre for the latest and greatest. Your mileage may vary.

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Heh... good luck Sony. I ain't paying that. Paying $5 for a movie is about my max.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Sony, I will pass. I'd rather get 6 movies from the $5 rack, or even 15 movies from the $2 rack regardless of quality.

 

[John Vance]

Lot's of luck with those prices, rather go to the theater.

 

[bluto 2050]

Is it just me or is does the pricing for 4K content seem incredibly unjustified?

tooooo much I have this Ultra 4K thing in my 4K HDR Sony Android TV (don't use it ) .

They can keep it and 4K HDR Blue Rays at those prices so my 4K content is Netflix and Amazon Prime 4K up to 4K HDR and some free downloads and 4K and 4K HDR eye candy demo loops I scored along with 4K youtube.

OTOH 1080p upscaled to 4K and remapped to a wider color gamut on this Sony XBR -HDR set looks real good ☺☺. .

 

[bluto 2050]

Rather than pay Sony $30 for the rental, I would rather buy the UHD Blu-ray.

You own the digital copy you can stream 24/7 from Sony Ultra 4K ....just like when you buy a 1080p VUDU HDX movie ☺