Sony's Stringer Will Sell You a TV and a Movie, Too

How do you make money on television sets when your competitors keep cutting prices? Throw in a little Will Smith, of course.

Howard Stringer, Sony’s chief executive, tossed out that idea at a lunch meeting Wednesday with people from the editorial and business sides of the New York Times. He noted his company’s recent agreement with cable companies to essentially build cable set-top boxes into its televisions.

“Technically, we can send a movie to that,” Mr. Stringer said. So why not package a TV set with a batch of Sony video content–including, say, a look at Sony Pictures’ Will Smith vehicle “Hancock” before its DVD release?

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