Sony is about to make a big media play by expanding its capabilities on their two newest Playstation consoles with a new cloud-based TV service. Named "Playstation Vue", the service will offer Playstation 3 and 4 owners the ability to stream up to 75 channels from partner networks with live and on-demand content directly through its games console.
At launch, networks like CBS, FOX, NBCUniversal, Scripps Networks Interactive and Viacom are said to be on-board to provide television programming directly to the console. There is no pricing info available yet, but Sony says pricing will be available prior to the wide-scale launch of the service. Sony also plans to expand the service beyond the Playstation onto other platforms at some point in the future.
The Vue service is launching in select markets for testing, which includes New York City in November with rollouts to Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia coming shortly thereafter. The service is expected to fully launch in early 2015 and marks the first big move by Sony to pit the Playstation 4 against Microsoft"s Xbox media offerings & capabilities.
Notable network exclusions from Playstation Vue include both Time Warner and Disney, and Microsoft currently holds console exclusivity on offering content from ESPN and the NFL network. The need for greater media capabilities on the Playstation 4 has become more necessary with the Xbox One gaining significant momentum with a big jump in sales as of late.
Source: PR Newswire