European television giant Sky has formed a joint venture with electronics behemoth Sony, which will provide PlayStation Portable owners with the ability to watch downloaded films and music videos on their favorite gadget.

Programming available for the shiny console also includes football matches from the Premiership, as well as other sports and entertainment videos, and BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch said the deal with Sony "would make portable, on-demand TV a reality".

"This is particularly exciting because the PSP is a fantastic device and we think the product is a proven one for audio-visual consumption."

TV content will be accessed using a Wi-Fi connection or the PC (where the programming will be downloaded). PSP owners will enjoy their favorite movies or sports shows via a subscription or pay-per-view basis. SKY is also looking for similar deals with Sony’s home ground rival Nintendo, whose install base for DS clearly outnumbers that of Sony, for the PlayStation Portable.

The service, which is a premiere for the European continent, targets a population of about 2 million PSP owners in the UK and Ireland, and will debut sometime at the beginning of next year.

More details on the service will be announced by SCEE at the Games Convention event in Leipzig, Germany on 22 August.

News of the deal came as BSkyB reported a 7 per cent drop in full-year operating profit to £815m and a 9 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £724m after the company invested heavily in its broadband expansion. Sky now has 716,000 broadband customers, after signing up 259,000 customers in the three months to June, and claims to be the fastest growing broadband provider in the UK.