CALIFORNIA: Sony Pictures Entertainment has formed the Digital Policy Group, a new corporate level organisation designed to address the challenges and opportunities arising with the digital distribution of entertainment product. Chief Administrative Officer and Executive VP of Sony Pictures Beth Berke will lead this new corporate organisation to facilitate SPE's migration to a world of secure digital formats, delivery systems and networked devices.

The Digital Policy Group will develop and implement policies that promote the protection of SPE content in a digital world. It will review new technologies that secure digital recording and distribution; synchronise SPE divisions to ensure a consistent approach to digital formats and distribution; represent SPE's position in cross-industry negotiations, legislative and regulatory matters, and other public forums; and partner with fellow Sony companies to advance the development and implementation of a secure digital infrastructure.

Sony aims at creating strategies that permit the maximum flexibility to the consumer electronics and computer industries, while at the same time providing the necessary protection to its content. The goal of the Digital Policy Group is to move forward with a triple win -- for content, for hardware, and for viewers.