More information is starting to come to light surrounding Sony’s PlayStation Network Video Service and the digital rights management restrictions that will be a part of it.

Reports are now claiming that Sony intends to restrict downloads from the store to one download, and perhaps one additional download if you contact customer service with a good enough reason to warrant a second download. No backups to another hard drive, CD, or DVD will be permitted.

The purchase terms state that the content can only be downloaded to a single PlayStation 3 or a single PSP unit. Once downloaded, purchased content can only be played on a single PlayStation 3 and up to 3 PSP systems simultaneously. Sony’s DRM rules state that once downloaded, content can not be re-downloaded.

From what we have been able to find out, if the consumer deletes the content from their PlayStation 3 or PSP, they are not going to be able to re-download the content a second time without paying for it again. Provisions are in for a second download at no charge only by contacting customer service in the case of a situation such as a hard drive failure.

The heavy-handed DRM policy that Sony is electing to use is much different from Microsoft, which allows customers to re-download content that they have paid for, in most cases anytime they please. The negative repercussions of this decision smack of favoring the use of heavy-handed DRM tactics over trying to service and meet the needs of its customers.

We predict that if Sony sticks with this ‘no re-download’ policy they are going to lose sales from many potential consumers who are unwilling to consider purchasing content that they may have to repurchase again in the future. While this may be good business and provide ongoing revenue for Sony, it is shortsighted and makes Sony look greedy to consumers; and it also indicates a total lack of understanding of what consumers want. We predict that it will also lead to lower sales, as well, for Sony as word of this gets out.