BIVL is a proprietary video on demand technology by Sony

Sony

, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 corporation. BIVL stands for BRAVIA

BRAVIA

BRAVIA is a Sony brand used to market its high-definition LCD televisions, projection TVs and front projectors and for the PlayStation 3 , along with its home cinema range under the sub-brand BRAVIA Theatre. The BRAVIA name is an acronym of "Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture"...

 Internet Video Link.

BIVL consists of an internet video service that is accessed via a hardware peripheral that can only be added to compatible Sony BRAVIA TV sets.

History

BIVL was launched in February 2007, and shipped in July 2007 to retail. At launch, BIVL took the form of a small module that is attached to the back of a compatible BRAVIA TV. The module originally retailed for around $300, and fell to around $200 about a year later. When attached to a compatible Sony television, the module enabled access to Internet video programming, including high-definition content, from providers like AOL, Yahoo! and Grouper, as well as Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony BMG Music. In mid-2008, Sony announced the addition of Amazon Video on Demand to the service, and in July 2009, Sony announced the addition of the Netflix

Netflix

Netflix, Inc., is an American provider of on-demand internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, and Latin America and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California...

service..

Public Reaction

Initial reviews of the BIVL service were mixed. While the BIVL device and service offers an easy way to access video on select Sony TVs, much of the content is already freely available and also available via other devices that had superior UIs and offered better performance.