Sony is developing a plasma screen television set that's intended to tune in streaming video from home networks and the Internet as easily as regular TV programs, according to sources familiar with the plans.

The project, code-named Altair, is one of the company's latest efforts to make digital content more accessible on its consumer-electronics devices, and it reinforces Sony's vision of the television as the centerpiece of its strategy for networked digital media. The new Sony TV will include a built-in Internet connection and tuners for receiving broadcasts from cable, satellite and over-the-air transmissions, according to sources.

The TV is expected to include a Web browser but is not envisioned as a run at Web TV. The device will be manipulated by a remote control rather than a keyboard and will use the Internet primarily as an alternative way to deliver video to the TV screen. Sony has formed partnerships with several streaming-media companies, including chipmaker Equator, On2 Technologies, RealNetworks and Secure Media, to help deliver that video.

"They're really sticking their necks out and betting that streaming to TV is going to be really big," said one source familiar with the project, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

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