Sony Pictures Television announced today that online retailers will soon be able to offer Sony content for download in DivX format. The news came as part of a partnership with DivX, Inc. that will also let those files be playable on DivX Certified devices. "We are dedicated to finding legitimate outlets for our content and to that end are excited to be working with DivX to provide retailers with an expanded ecosystem for the digital distribution and playback of our digital media," said Sony Pictures executive VP of Digital Distribution & Mobile Entertainment, Michael Arrieta.

A spokesperson for DivX, Kristina Weise, told Ars that this would offer consumers high-quality Hollywood content in DivX for the first time ever, and that the deal would cover "all titles in the Sony Pictures Television library." She also said that all titles would be download-to-own, but that there will be some type of unspecified DRM. Tracking down those DivX Sony movies might be a challenge, though. "We have no announcements with retailers at this time," she told us.

The news comes just a few weeks after Sony added official DivX support to its PlayStation 3, which had been announced in November. Microsoft beat Sony to the punch, however, with its fall update to the Xbox 360 that included support for DivX. At the very least, owners of next-gen consoles (save the Wii, of course) will be able to watch Sony's movies whenever they become available. When will that be? Wise said that the movies will be available in DivX format on the same day as the DVD release of each title. Assuming there will be retailers to sell it, that is.

The move is definitely good news for the DivX camp, which hails the deal as the first with a major content distributor. Fans of shows from Sony - which include such hits as Jeopardy!, Dawson's Creek, and Seinfeld - can rejoice, because they'll finally have a legal way to download their favorite shows.

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News source: Ars Technica

Funny how this news comes so close to the Blu-ray "victory," because digital distribution is really going to take over the industry. You will be able to buy or rent any movie you want right from your television set, and watch it immediately.

But DivX?

What's wrong with DivX?

Nothing's wrong with Divx but unless there is a major restructuring and expansion of broadband, there's plenty wrong with going entirely digital. Unless you don't mind waiting a few hours to days for your movie to arrive. Or you could just hop down to the rental store and see it in a few minutes.

I've always disliked DivX. I just find it "bulky".

No, HD streaming is here already. My 6Mbit DSL connection has no trouble streaming the HD videos from Revision3. The video starts playing in a few seconds - much quicker than running to a rental store.

Your ISP or service plan maybe but the majority are out of luck. You have a 6 megabit connection; most people in the U.S. and Canada aren't so lucky and may not even have a 1 megabit connection assuming they have broadband.

The ISP's seem to be in no hurry to change it either. They're too busy fighting over net neutrality to care.

The average Internet connection speed is only going to increase over time. Besides, I suspect the majority of people who are interested in buying HD movies already have a high speed Internet connection.

I agree with you Chug, and to further prove your point about connection speeds only rising, my ISP has dropped their lowest package (1.5Mbps down) and then cut the prices on the 3Mbps and 5Mbps plan and also added a 10Mbps plan. all just within the last year or so.