Sony's Video Downloads for PS3

Tokyo (Japan) - Sony will begin offering an on-demand video service for the PS3 next year.

The new platform will officially launch in Japan in early 2008, although some videos will be available before that.

The first premium videos will appear in Japan on December 6, with car racing content from the BBC to tie into Gran Turismo 5. The service will have a bigger fanfare overseas in 2008. Sony has announced that video downloads will begin at around $1.85.

It is Sony’s push to compete with a similar service on the Xbox 360. The Xbox Live Video Marketplace has a wide array of movies and TV shows, many of which are HD exclusives on the 360, available on a digital rental basis.

For several months, PS3 users have been able to download video game and movie trailers from the console’s digital download store, but those are free and usually no less than five minutes long.