Sony pairs up with MTV to provide new UMD content

Foster City (CA) - In one of the most unexpected PSP announcements to date, Sony has created a partnership with MTV to create new UMD video discs, a format that has been considered dead for well over a year.

A brand new slate of UMD discs launched this week, bringing original MTV programming to the proprietary Sony PSP format. Sony says it is the first time its video game division has struck a deal with a "major TV content provider."

"This demonstrates our commitment to supporting the UMD video format," said Sony Computer Entertainment America senior VP Phil Rosenberg. At the beginning, studios were clamoring over the UMD format with some weeks seeing as many as two dozen new titles, some of which were released day-and-date with their DVD counterpart.

However, it fizzled out and for numerous months, the only major studio continuing to release movies on UMD has been Sony Pictures. MTV has just put out Aeon Flux : The Complete Animated Collection, as well as collections of other shows like Viva La Bam and Wildboyz.

Part of what killed the UMD format originally was a restrictive price barrier, with some of them even being priced at above their DVD version. The initial set of new MTV titles carry an MSRP of around $15.