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Sony's PlayStation Vue Service Will Deliver Television To Consoles In Early 2015
Sony has announced, PlayStation Vue, a service that will deliver television programming to users via PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles. The company anticipates having it ready for consumers in the first quarter of 2015.
The publisher has announced a number of partners that will be available when the service goes live, including CBS, NBC (including Bravo, SyFy, and USA Network), FOX (including sports, NatGeo, and FX channels), Discovery Communications, Scripps Network Interactive (HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, and others), and Viacom (Comedy Central, Spike, MTV, and more). Others will be announced later.
Sony says there will be no contracts, and that there won't be hidden fees. An invite-only beta is slated to begin this month, offering approximately 75 channels. The service will also offer on-demand programming related to partner channels. It will eventually be available beyond the PlayStation consoles, including an iPad app.
No specific pricing has been announced, but PlayStation Vue will roll out in select cities. New York is up first, followed by Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles.
[Source: Sony]
Our Take
With HBO to offer a standalone option and other providers considering the same, Sony has just further incentivized cord-cutting. I'm curious to see how pricing shakes out, as while this isn't for me (yet), I suspect it will appeal to a wide variety of users. Unfortunately, Disney and ABC aren't announced yet, representating a significant amount of content not available right away.
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