Orange County Register

Everyone from Best Buy to Netflix wants a direct line to our living-room TV so we customers don’t have to step outside. Today, Sony Electronics made an entrance — with a twist: If you buy one of its web-friendly TVs or Blu-ray Disc players, you can download the upcoming high-definition version of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” free for 24 hours.

The animated movie won’t be out until Jan. 5, 2010 so the Sony Pictures release is a good example of what a company can do when it controls the content and the mechanism to watch the movie on.

But it’s not a very good offer. First, you must buy one of 12 Sony Bravia HDTVs or the Sony networked Blu-ray Disc player between today and Jan. 4, 2010. Only then can you get the movie as a free 24-hour rental. The Blu-ray DVD will cost $35 when it is released. And no, this offer isn’t available to the millions of PlayStation 3 owners out there.

On Dec. 8, the rental fee goes to $24.95 for all Bravia TVs (including the W5100, Z5100, XBR9 and XBR10) and the new BDP-N460 Network Blu-ray Disc player.  The majority of Bravia TVs from 2007 to 2008 are compatible with Sony’s Internet Video Link module, currently a $200 add-on at Sony’s online store.

Sounds like a high price to pay for a movie rental, but a Sony spokesperson confirmed to me that the price is correct.

Bravia TVs and the networked Blu-ray players do have access to Amazon Video on Demand, YouTube other Web TV-based services. Netflix streaming was supposed to arrive this fall.

More on the Web TV movement:

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