HBO is coming to the PlayStation 3. The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony has reached a deal with the cable network to bring their original programming to the PlayStation Network’s video on demand store.
The plan calls for episodes from 11 of HBO’s series to show up on the PlayStation Store as they become available on DVD (estimated at around 11 months following the shows’ television premieres). New episodes are set to appear on the console every Tuesday, with series like Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, and Big Love mentioned by name in the announcement.

“HBO is a high-profile content provider, and a real premium service, so we think this really reinforces that the PlayStation is more than just a videogame console now,” said Sony Computer Entertainment America president and CEO Jack Tretton. “It gives consumers that big-screen, HD experience in the home on a device other than cable and satellite, and that’s becoming the norm now as opposed to the exception.”

Pricing for most individual episodes will be set at 99 cents apiece, though the popular vampire series True Blood will apparently carry a $2.99 per episode price tag. The increased digital availability of HBO’s programming library is expected to help offset the company’s slipping DVD sales, while the staggered release schedule is intended to preserve the network’s relationship with cable providers.

“Networks like HBO can be beholden to the cable and satellite companies, or they can play wherever the consumers play,” added Sony’s Jack Tretton.