Sony to shutter PlayStation Vue live TV service in January

Sony plans to shut down its PlayStation Vue live television service on Jan. 30, 2020, the company said on Tuesday, ending a four-year attempt to disrupt the pay TV industry.

Announced in a post to Sony's website, PlayStation Vue is the first major player to bow out of the highly competitive pay TV market.

Details about the pending shutdown were not immediately available, though it is widely known that Vue has been a loss leader for Sony since its debut in 2015. John Kodera, deputy president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, cited untenable content and network deals, as well as an intractable industry, as reasons for the service's demise.

"Unfortunately, the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected. Because of this, we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business," Kodera said. "We are very proud of what PlayStation Vue was able to accomplish. We had ambitious goals for how our service could change how people watch TV, showcasing PlayStation's ability to innovate in a brand-new category within the Pay TV industry."

Sony's announcement follows a report from The Information last week claiming the company was looking to sell Vue as financial losses mounted.

PlayStation Vue debuted to significant media buzz with its "skinny bundle" of live and on-demand channels. With a comparatively robust selection of channels and optional premium add-ons, the solution seemed primed for success, but high monthly fees and increased competition from the likes of Sling, YouTube TV and Hulu squeezed Sony out of the market.

Most recently, Sony updated Vue with support for Apple TV in late 2018.

8 Comments

lmac 212 comments · 14 Years

About 5 years ago

I expect Apple will be there soon with regard to original content for TV. At $15 million an episode, and with only ~4 original shows, good luck Tim. Wish Apple would stick to making innovative software and hardware, and leave the content, whether it be music or shows, to the experts.

karmadave 369 comments · 15 Years

Too bad. I started out on PS Vue, but eventually switched to YouTube TV. I think Sony's service was strong, but their interface was clunky and they kept jacking their prices. in the end, there just wasn't enough differentiation from the alternatives.

mark fearing 439 comments · 16 Years

lmac said:

I expect Apple will be there soon with regard to original content for TV. At $15 million an episode, and with only ~4 original shows, good luck Tim. Wish Apple would stick to making innovative software and hardware, and leave the content, whether it be music or shows, to the experts.

You have to look at why companies are producing content, how they generate revenue and how they define the service as successful. For Amazon, content is literally a marketing expense for Prime. Netflix gets your monthly subscription whether you watch a 20 year old tv show or their new content. It wasn’t that long ago that an entertainment company had to have people actually go to a movie theatre and pay money for a particular film and get lots of people to do that in order to make a profit. For Netflix, no one (outside Netflix) even knows how many people watch anything. They have monthly subscriptions and their stock price. You are judging new systems by antiquated mechanisms. Spending 15 million on a show used to mean you had to generate 15 million ‘plus’ from either people attending movies or advertising on tv whose rates were set because of actual viewers. That’s not the game now. Amazon can literally spend billions for a media service that just adds value to their subscription. In the long run who will be left standing? How will they generate income? How many services can live in the market? No one knows, but obviously Sony’s Vue won’t be one. I’d guess Sony thinks there is better money in selling content in the marketplace. Plus gamers are usually playing games so platform wise it’s not ideal. Plus younger people are not buying consoles. Apple is more like Amazon. They are looking to add value to services and devices. Will it work? No one knows. But the fact is they do not need to sell tickets or measure eyeballs for it to be successful. That is the odd world of entertainment right now.

PickUrPoison 302 comments · 7 Years

lmac said:

I expect Apple will be there soon with regard to original content for TV. At $15 million an episode, and with only ~4 original shows, good luck Tim. Wish Apple would stick to making innovative software and hardware, and leave the content, whether it be music or shows, to the experts.

They have left it to the experts. They hired two of the best in the business to lead the effort: Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg.

From Apple’s June 2017 press release:

“Erlicht and Van Amburg have served as presidents of Sony Pictures Television since 2005. Under their leadership, the studio’s slate of original primetime series more than tripled, growing to include many of TV’s most acclaimed shows. They have extensive expertise producing television for global audiences and creating programming for a wide range of services including shows for Amazon, Hulu and Netflix. Their incredible roster of programs — which have won 36 Emmys and dozens of Golden Globes, AFI and WGA awards — have included fan favorites such as Better Call Saul, The Blacklist, Bloodline, Breaking Bad, The Crown, Damages, The Goldbergs, Justified, Preacher, Rescue Me, The Shield, Sneaky Pete and many more.”

PS Apple doesn’t have about 4 shows, it’s debuting with 8 or 9 and there are 40+ in various stages of production:

https://iphone.appleinsider.com/articles/18/07/11/here-are-all-of-the-future-tv-shows-that-apple-has-signed-deals-for

davgreg 1046 comments · 9 Years

The handful of companies that control content are determined to force you into a bundle no matter what.

Disney controls ABC/ESPN/Fox & Disney Production Studios and a collection of cable channels. Add in Hulu , ESPN+ and Disney+ services.
Comcast controls NBC/MSNBC/CNBC/NBC Sports Channel/Golf Channel/USA/Bravo/Telemundo , Universal Production studio then add in Comcast Cable/ISP service.
Viacom/CBS controls CBS/Showtime/MTV/VH1/BET/Paramount Channel/Comedy Central/CBS Sports Channel/half interest in the CW Network/Paramount Studio and CBS All Access service.
AT&T controls CNN/HBO/TBS/TNT/Turner Classic Movies/Cartoon Network/Cinemax/ Warner production studio and half interest in CW network. Then add in DirecTV and AT&T as an ISP.
Liberty Media controls almost everything else.

These companies know most of us watch a handful of channels, but want up to pay for dozens of useless channels that few people watch that mostly show rerun/recycled content.

If the Anti-Trust Division was doing its job, this would not be the case.

If Sony with Columbia studios is on the outside looking in, you can predict the handful of survivors in a consolidated market.