Sony enters digital contents market

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Anticipating an international wave of digital cinema, Sony has entered the digital contents market, and could boost its sales of software as well as hardware. The company announced that it will launch digital cinema in Japan, and will start delivering digital contents to domestic theaters in May.

Initial digital contents will include a theatrical performance, musical, opera, and sports and musical events. The entertainment company will team with the rights holders of these contents.

“With the recent success of Blu-ray, we are seeing our business rolling in the consumer area. However, in public broadcasting, where films have long been used, we are now seeing the demand for digital contents, and entered the business,” says Sony’s PR, Jin Tomihari.

Sony is also eying live distribution and experiments with live streaming of soccer games.

“What is good about digital distribution is that you can have live streaming images on the servers by way of networks,” says Tomihari.

There is currently no sports event planned for distribution, and the cost of making these digital contents was not revealed.

First Sony will work with Human Design Co, distributing its musical “Metro ni Notte (Riding on the Metro)” in May. The musical was originally performed last year at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, and was a huge success. It was performed 13 times and all seats were taken on each live performance.

Now in a digital format, the performance will be shown in 3 theaters in the Kanto area initially, and in more areas nationwide, targeting a larger audience than the total number at the live performances combined.

“We hope to appeal to the audience who could not see a live performance, and offer a real, vivid experience on a superior screen, and better access to the show,” says Tomihari.

For Sony, the musical was a perfect fit, as the entertainment company had been searching for quality contents to be digitalized.

A chief producer for Human Design, Seiko Ishikawa reveals, “It was Sony that approached us last autumn with the proposal to show our musical performance in theaters in digital form.” The idea of reaching a larger audience with digital recordings attracted the producers of the musical.

“Our audience varies from the age of 5 to 70, both male and female. We are not merely targeting young ladies. In fact, about 40% of the audience includes male, and, often times, elderly men come to see our show alone. We have received a variety of awards, and we pride ourselves on producing quality musicals for adults,” says Ishikawa.

Digital performance ticket prices are planned at 2,000 yen for advanced sale and 2,500 yen at the door, less than half a price of the least expensive seats at live performances.

In Japan, 3%, or 102, of 3,221 screens supported digital as of February. Tomihari said that this was the current target of the entertainment company.

However, Sony is also considering expanding its new business outside Japan. “The market for digital contents is larger abroad,” explains Tomihari. “As of last September, 4,869 of nearly 70,000 screens were equipped for digital contents. And this is the market we are aiming at.”

In a statement, Sony said that it has become standard to digitalize contents in shooting and editing on video production, and that it expects more digital contents to be used in theaters.

Last May, the company started taking orders for its “total system package” for digital cinema. It expects to boost its sales both for hardware and software.

The move by the Japanese entertainment giant is also a trend overseas. The San Francisco Opera announced its plan to transmit performances to movie theaters last December. A few other major theaters, such as the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and the Royal Opera in London are also in the line.