Despite Sony's evident glee over the upcoming PlayStation Network downloadable movie service, the company has yet to sign any deals with external movie production firms, reports Variety.

Obviously Sony Pictures is on board for the planned content distribution system.

Still, this news may not be the death knell for Sony's movie service: As Variety points out, the Xbox Live Marketplace iteration of a similar movie download service only had backing from Paramount and Warner Bros. when it debuted and quickly earned the trust of a number of other major studios.

Speculating on the issue, Variety's Ben Fritz believes the hold up may be attributed to the extra features Sony has planned for the service.

While the Xbox Live Marketplace merely allows for film purchase and rental via download, Sony's planned service also includes the ability to transfer films to portable players such as the PSP. Contract negotiations for the former have become standard in Hollywood, but Sony's plan adds a new level of complexity to the proceedings.

My only hope is that Sony has the foresight to avoid overly restrictive digital rights management plans in their service.

The optimist in me wants to believe Sony just might give us free reign to do with our purchased media as we please.

Then again, who am I kidding? This is Sony we're talking about. If they could install an Aibo in George Orwell's tomb, they'd do it out of pure symbolic spite.

Image: MNgilen/Flickr

Playstation 3 download service may also include PSP, doesn't have other studios yet [Variety]

See Also:

• Sony Confirms Video Download Service
• PlayStation 3 Gets YouTube Integration
• Sony Loses $3.3 Billion Since PlayStation 3 Launch