Sony to Add Rental Option to Its 4K Movie Service, Expand Streaming to PCs
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is taking its Ultra-branded 4K video streaming service beyond the TV: Consumers will be able to stream 4K movies from the service to supported PCs starting in early 2017, the studio announced Tuesday. Add that time, Sony is also going to add an option to rent movies for up to 48 hours.
Sony launched Ultra in April, with launch titles including movies like “Concussion,” “The Night Before” and “The Walk” as well as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” At launch, Ultra was meant to only support movie purchases, which Sony Pictures Entertainment VP Jake Winett at the time called “a business decision.”
Speaking of business decisions: 4K movies won’t come cheap for Ultra customers, even with the new streaming option. Ultra currently charges consumers $29.99 for new 4K HDR titles, with library titles selling for $25.99. Rentals will set consumers back $7.99 a pop, and Sony is also going to introduce free 10-minute previews.
Ultra has thus far been limited to 2016 Sony TV sets with 4K video support. The company has now teamed up with chipset maker Intel to make 4K video streaming to PCs a reality, and in turn also nudge consumers to upgrade their computer: Ultra will require a PC with a new 7th Gen Intel Core processor, which will start selling in time for this holiday season.
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