Sony Signs Cable Movie Deal With Supplier In Demand

Having persuaded a group of Hollywood studios to offer movies on demand online, Sony Pictures Entertainment said Tuesday that it agreed to make its films available on demand through cable TV.

Sony subsidiary Columbia TriStar International Television granted a long-term video-on-demand license to In Demand, a leading supplier of cable pay-per-view fare. The deal is an important boost for In Demand, which is jointly owned by four top cable TV companies, and for video on demand in general, which cable operators have been reluctant to deploy without the rights to hit movies.

Only one of the other six major Hollywood studios, Vivendi Universal, has reached a similar agreement with In Demand, which inked a long-term licensing deal in July.

This month, Sony announced that it would offer downloadable movies online as part of a joint venture with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Michael Grindon, president of Columbia Tri-Star International Television, said the company would make all its movies available on demand both through cable and via the Internet, provided it had the necessary rights.

“We want to make our movies available to the consumer in the widest array of venues possible,” Grindon said.

Rob Jacobson, executive vice president of In Demand, said video-on-demand services could be available to as many as 1.5 million homes by the end of the year. In Demand is owned by AT&T; Broadband, AOL Time Warner Inc., Comcast Corp. and Cox Communications Inc.