Sony Looking To Snare Tomorrow's VideophilesSony Looking To Snare Tomorrow's Videophiles

You've got broadband. You've got devices to connect with. Now, if only you could pull the two together.

A year ago, Sony Pictures Entertainment created a digital division to develop a strategy to do just that. The first fruits of that venture, Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment, will come this fall with the launch of Sony Screenblast, a high-speed Internet entertainment service aimed at getting 18- to 24-year-olds hooked on video creation and editing. Using free tools, consumers will be able to tweak well-known film, television, and music video clips on the Screenblast broadband portal. Of course, offered up for editing are Sony properties such as Dawson's Creek and Men In Black, for that extra marketing kick.

Amateur recorders can download software to help make their own music or videos feel more professional, then store them on the Web for others to view. Sony will charge a small fee for storing larger productions, and ad space may also be sold on the site.

Once novice users graduate to intermediate levels of editing and film creation, Sony will sell them more sophisticated editing tools and software--$169 for a full package or $69 for downloading individual tools--that will let them create movies and post them on the Web.

But beyond the multiple revenue streams on Screenblast itself, the company hopes the service will inspire consumers to go out and buy more Sony digital cameras, wireless devices, PlayStations, handheld devices, and hardware, boosting sales in Sony Corp.'s other divisions.

Some analysts warn, however, that Screenblast is likely to meet limited demand on the part of consumers. "It's based on the assumption that there's enough digital movies and photos out there and people who will want to do this, but there's not," Gartner analyst P.J. McNealy says. "There are some people out there that are enthusiasts, but not every household is going to be interested in having this."