Sony Japan enters satellite music biz
New set-top systems allow pirate-proof distrib
Sony, which is one of the main investors in Sky PerfecTV, said the system would allow for pirate-proof distribution of music. Subscribers can download digital music to minidisc players or other digital recording equipment using a Sony set-top box.
The price of music on the satellite broadcast system would be below the retail price of the same music on CD, Sony said. The company declined to comment on which artists would have their music distributed by the satcaster service.
Sky PerfecTV, which includes Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. as a major investor, is Japan's largest direct-to-home platform and it has more than 1 million subscribers.
In February, Sony Corp. said it developed encryption technologies that can be used to protect the transmission and storage of digital music from copyright infringement.
The Japanese electronics company presented its technologies to the Secure Digital Music Initiative, which was created by the Recording Industry Assn. of America.
The encryption systems provide "robust protection against the unauthorized accessing, copying, and distributing of digital music content," Sony said.
