New Content From Condenet, Sports Illustrated, Blip.TV And Sony Pictures Added To Sony’s Bravia Internet Video Link Service

Sony Electronics today announced new content providers that will bring Internet video to BRAVIA high-definition televisions via the company’s innovative BRAVIA Internet Video Link service.

New Internet channels will be coming from CondéNet, Sports Illustrated, blip.tv and Sony Pictures, which will add eight new Internet channels. The new content partners join a current roster of providers that include Yahoo!, AOL and Crackle, which have been live on the service since it launched in August.

The new content will include travel and lifestyle programming, original shorts, condensed broadcast sitcom episodes, and classic action/adventure shows. Current BRAVIA Internet Video Link users will see logos for the new content appear on their television menu system as they become available.

“The Internet has opened a completely new medium for viewers to access unique programs of their choosing,” said Randy Waynick, senior vice president of the Home Products Division of Sony Electronics. “The BRAVIA Internet Video Link brings that programming directly to your living room TV for everyone in the family to enjoy.”

CondéNet, an Internet unit of Condé Nast Publications, will deliver four new Internet channels later this month, offering award-winning fashion content from Style.com, lifestyle content from Men.Style.com, food/dining content from Epicurious.com, and travel content from Concierge.com.

Also later this month, Sports Illustrated will bring the magazine’s annual swimsuit issue to life on the BRAVIA service with videos from behind the scenes, interviews and other special coverage. Other sports content will also be featured on the video service at a later date.

The new blip.tv Internet channel, which goes live today, focuses on Internet-only content. Blip.tv, which was recently rated No. 1 in PC World’s reader survey of best user-generated content sites, brings a number of the site’s shows to the BRAVIA Internet Video Link service, including Rocketboom, Unleashed, Break a Leg, Alive in Baghdad, Goodnight Burbank and Geek Entertainment TV.

Also live today, two new Sony Pictures Internet channels add televisions programs and promotional trailers. One, called “Minisodes,” offers favorite TV shows condensed to four to six-minute versions with the full story lines intact. The other, “Inside Sony Pictures,” features the latest movie and television trailers, along with other Sony Pictures’ promotional content. Coming soon will be “Funny Bone,” featuring episodes from the heyday of sit-coms, shorts, busted pilots and originals by contemporary comedians; and “AXN,” which will bring classic hard-hitting action TV series and original takes on today’s favorite action movies and stars.

The BRAVIA Internet Video Link is a small module that attaches to the back of a majority of the the company’s 2007 BRAVIA television models, including all of the BRAVIA LCD flat-panel TVs, which began shipping to retail in June (excluding the BRAVIA M-series LCD models). The module links the television set directly to existing broadband Internet service providers via an Ethernet connection, allowing users to access Internet video programming, without the use of a personal computer.

Content is easily navigated with Sony’s Technical Emmy® award-winning Xross Media Bar (XMB)™ user interface.

Once the TV and BRAVIA Internet Video Link module have been purchased, videos are available at no charge, bringing content to Sony televisions not found on network or cable/satellite TV stations.

Sony’s BRAVIA Internet Video Link module is now available for about $300 direct at sonystyle.com, at Sony Style retail stores, at military base exchanges and at authorized dealers across the country. In addition to flat-panel sets, the module is compatible with the majority of 2007 BRAVIA micro-display models.