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Sony Businesses Television

Sony is Closing Vue, Its Pay TV Streaming Service You Never Used (vox.com) 40

Posted by msmash from the end-of-road dept.
Apple, Disney, and WarnerMedia are all launching new video streaming services that you're going to hear a lot about over the next few days. But here's news about one streaming service that's shutting down: Sony's Playstation Vue, which offered a digital version of the cable TV bundle, will close up shop in January. From a report: "The highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected," Sony said in an announcement on Tuesday. Translation: Sony was losing money on the service -- which sold for around $50 a month and was supposed to appeal to people who owned its Playstation gaming consoles -- and didn't have many subscribers. Sony had previously tried to find a buyer for the service, according to a report from The Information. Sony was one of the first so-called "virtual mvpds": bundles of network programming delivered over the internet that replicate what traditional pay TV distributors like Comcast sell. That group now includes YouTube, Hulu, and Dish's Sling.
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Sony is Closing Vue, Its Pay TV Streaming Service You Never Used More

Sony is Closing Vue, Its Pay TV Streaming Service You Never Used

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  • PSvue, terrible name (Score:4)

    by jwhyche ( 6192 ) on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @03:17PM (#59359456) Homepage

    I used PSVue for about 3 months. It wasn't a bad service as far as picture quality goes. It just didn't have the channels I wanted. Then they raise the price.

    The biggest issue I saw with PSVue was the name. When I was looking for a TV streaming service I passed it by several times based on the name alone. I figured it was a service just for the Playstation. Truth was it supported just about ever thing that could stream.

    They should have went with a better name to appeal to other than just the Playstation crowed.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      The biggest issue I saw with PSVue was the name. When I was looking for a TV streaming service I passed it by several times based on the name alone. I figured it was a service just for the Playstation. Truth was it supported just about ever thing that could stream.

      It didn't help that Playstation Now, Sony's streaming game service, only works on their PlayStation and PCs after working on practically every device out there.

      And that was a service you heard of, simply because it's how Sony wanted you to do bac

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rtb61 ( 674572 )

        It does not help that Sony smart TVs came out with hundreds of apps and now only have half a dozen on a few years old TV, yeah, Sony not that reliable and really into abandon ware, just as quick as they can. Sony smart TVs got pretty stupid real quick, top job Sony.

  • I used it a couple of times to watch a cable TV only special or two. But I'm just not interested enough in cable to keep it long term.

  • Good Product with Terrrible Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by slinches ( 1540051 ) on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @03:31PM (#59359502)

    Playstation Vue was one of the better "cable replacement" streaming platforms. Similar to Youtube TV, but it had a better assortment of channels at about the same price. The downfall was the atrocious marketing. First the name is terrible. Playstation Vue sounds like a Twitch competitor rather than a TV streaming service. Then they had very limited advertisements that focused on telling people that it wasn't only for playstation consoles rather than describing what the product actually is. Just goes to show how disfunctional of a company Sony is.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rjr162 ( 69736 )

      I'll agree. The service was fine and in fact in my opinion had one of the better UIs for sure. I've been using it for a few years now

  • "Sony was one of the first so-called "virtual mvpds": bundles of network programming delivered over the internet that replicate what traditional pay TV distributors like Comcast sell."

    Why? The market is moving AWAY from that. What idiot thought that was what people wanted?

    • It's really the only way to get live sports. For instance if I want to watch games of the Columbus Blue Jackets or Crew, my only option (without resorting to VPNs and some semi-legal stuff) is to have a cable or one of these bundles. Fox Sports Ohio does not offer the ability to buy just that channel, even over their streaming platform called Fox Sports Go. This is literally the only reason I have cable -- one channel.

      At some future date there will be a tipping point where all the cord cutters make it su

      • I guess I should be glad I never got interested in sports. Between the NFL being cop suckers and the NBA bending over for China, the only thing left is baseball. I'd rather watch flies fuck. At least baseball fans had the balls to boo Cheeto Mussolini, though.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      "Sony was one of the first so-called "virtual mvpds": bundles of network programming delivered over the internet that replicate what traditional pay TV distributors like Comcast sell."

      Why? The market is moving AWAY from that. What idiot thought that was what people wanted?

      No, it isn't. The market is moving away from traditional telecommunications providers. If you want your cable TV, you've been stuck with regular cable or satellite. Then came your local telephone company offering TV over the phone lines. I

  • But it didn't have the content I wanted. I was missing and would lose channels you'd want, and would experience rate hikes.
  • I'm pissed they're closing it down. I switched from my shitty cable company (Charter) after they raised their prices and cut channels. Vue had everything I needed and the price was better than what Charter could offer (too good apparently). Now my choices are to go groveling back to Charter or spend twice as much on a bunch of different streaming services. Sigh. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

    • Re:I Use It (Score:4)

      by jwhyche ( 6192 ) on Tuesday October 29, 2019 @04:04PM (#59359640) Homepage

      You could always check out Hulu and YouTube TV. Both of them have a similar line up as PSVue and close to the same price. I think Directv Now is still around but has been rebranded. I wouldn't recommend them though because they fucking blow.

      If you want some mainstream channels with out news and sports you can check out Philo. $20 bucks a month for 58 channels.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by rjr162 ( 69736 )

        Last time I checked YouTube TV had crap for device support, and the UI to Hulu (haven't tried the Hulu TV) was just terrible to me

  • When I tell people I use PSVue as my service they all say the same thing "I don't have a PlayStation". TBH the service on my PlayStation was awful. Such a powerful box struggled to decode for some reason. I have used it on a Roku, a Chromecast, and currently a Shield. It works well on all of the platforms. The "problem" is the UX is different from box to box. The guide is vertical on one device and horizontal on another. But at least it HAS a guide. Within the last 3 months I switched to Hulu w/Live TV beca

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rjr162 ( 69736 )

      Yup, I even use(d) it with a Roku XD and XS just fine, but the UI on roku followed that of the Roku main page / Netflix layout which just sucked. I could only figure it made the app light by calling some Roku library to do the layout but that's my only guess as for why they did that

  • Are the offerings from Apple, Disney and Warner actually comparable? PS VUE is similar to regular cable TV services from a cable co, or YoutubeTV, or a few other OTT providers. Those other 3 more directly compare to (and compete with) Netflix or Amazon Prime.

  • $50/month and not many subscribers, how could that be?

  • I find this highly disheartening. I finally cut the cord this summer, and have been very happy with Vue. It was the only service that had all the channels my wife and I both agreed we wanted. I agree with other posters that the name and branding were terrible, and I also had several people say to me 'but I don't have a PlayStation'. We have Prime and Netflix and also soon to be Disney+, but this was our go to for watching TV and the news or just having something on in the background.
  • I tested all these services that were available using their free trial periods a few years back. PS Vue actually had the best interface and had a very good selection of channels. The one big problem for me is that it was missing one of my local network channels so I didn't keep it after the trial period. I'm using Youtube TV now since it satisfied that requirement. I wish I could just use an antenna but I am out of range.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rjr162 ( 69736 )

      To be honest, at least in my area, when a local partnered with one streaming service it appeared on the others as well, so you could basically bet if one had it they all did that were doing streaming of your locals.
      CBS is still the streaming hold out with those services and would rather you pay the $10/month or whatever for their CBS All Access app live stream (or whatever that call it). Screw that.

  • Maybe they will let competitors like Hulu stream LiveTV on a Playstation now.

  • They lost my trust when they stuck a rootkit on music CDs, and I haven't seen anything since to make me trust them again.

    That said, I have a PS2, PS3, and PS4. But I give Sony the minimum amount of info I can.
  • MLB’s tech division ran Playstation Vue servers. MLB spun off the tech division and sold everything to Disney...

    https://www.theverge.com/2015/... [theverge.com]

  • It was a great way to watch the Olympics, since you could just sign up for that month, and cancel immediately afterward. If I'd had my normal cable/internet provider give me TV service, I'd be on the hook for at least a year of service. Sad to see them go, I'll have to figure something else out for the next go round.

  • I have Vue; the quality is good and the price is reasonable. It also works on every device I own. Plenty of sports channels including BeIN (Soccer, MotoGP!), decent channel line up. They're missing Viacom "properties" because of Sony's feud with them, but honestly, I couldn't care less.

    I'm not going to give Google (Youtube) one damned red cent and Hulu's interface is rage inducing. Sling is a rip-off once you realize that to get the channels you want, you have to pay for at least two of their packages.

    Now w

    • Me too. PS Vue wasn't perfect, but it was decent and had all the sports channels I wanted. Taking a quick look at the other options, only Sling has the NFL Network offered. YouTube can suck it. I dropped Hulu when they butchered the interface and it sounds like it hasn't gotten any better. Just great.

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