GridNetworks Adds PS3 Support For Internet TV

Video delivery platform provider GridNetworks announced that GridCast TV, its subscription service for on-demand video streaming over the Internet, now supports the PlayStation 3. Launched last month, the service enables content distributors and owners to stream video directly over the Internet. Users can access the content with an Xbox 360, an Internet-enabled television, and now a PlayStation 3, without requiring a set-top box or any other hardware. The announcement follows British television company Sky's recent comments indicating an interest in implementing a similar service, and The Diffusion Group's (TDG) report predicting that more and more consumers will supplement their TV watching habits with content deliver through video game consoles over the next five years. According to TDG, some 190 million households will own a next-generation video game console by 2012, of which 80 percent will connect their console to the internet. The firm forecasts that 75 percent of those connected-console households will use console-based video services at least a couple times each week. “Support for the PlayStation 3 further broadens the Internet reach we give content owners into their viewers’ living rooms," says GridNetworks CEO Tony Naughtin. "And just as with GridCast TV over the Xbox 360 and Internet-enabled TVs, our customers don’t have to give their content to a third party, or negotiate with cable or satellite providers. They remain in control of their brand, content, and revenue.”