Sony gets ready to jump into an untapped market for them, by articulating TV services and all the power of the PlayStation brand. This is Sony’s on-demand TV offering.
When the Xbox One launched, it seemed that all they could do was repeat “TV” in every single phrase, as if the console was built around it. Yet, it is now their honorable competition, Sony, who are announcing their plans to launch an internet-based TV service, starting with a small, private beta in New York city which will launch in early 2015.
As of now, the service is being referred as PlayStation Vue, and provide on-demand television as well as features like cloud recording and a practical UI that articulates well with the PlayStation experience. Reportedly, many major broadcasters (CBS, Fox and NBC amongst others) are already on board, so they are off to a good start. Furthermore, there is also a group of cable networks that are also working with Sony, namely Syfy, Fox Sports, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and MTV amongst many, many others. The big absentees from this project are Disney-owned channels, HBO (no surprise here, HBO is getting ready to launch their own service and target users directly, cutting every middle-man), and ESPN.
The interesting thing about PlayStation Vue is that Sony’s plan doesn’t just end on their video game consoles; while this service will be available on both PS3 and PS4s around the world, Sony is also targeting Apple’s massive userbase with an iPad app, with more devices coming soon. Also, it would be silly of them to not include Sony’s line of Smart TVs and their PlayStation TV and Vita as devices too.
While this all sounds wonderful and very interesting, the service is not going to be commercially available for at least a couple more months, and the pricing remains to be disclosed. Still, gamers seemed pretty unhappy about their PlayStation Now price ranges where in some cases renting and streaming a game was more expensive than actually buying it. If PlayStation Vue is going to succeed, it has got to be because Sony revised some of their pricing policies.
Via Giga Om
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