Sony today unveiled the PlayStation™Vue, a new cloud-based TV service that reinvents the television experience. The new PlayStation™Vue leverages the power of the cloud to combine live, on-demand, and catch-up TV content and immediately connects viewers to the content they want to watch, helps them to easily access their favourite shows and channels, and recommends movies and shows based on their viewing habits and what's trending.
The PlayStation™Vue provides a 'Smart Search' feature which narrows down results quickly and intuitively and an 'Explore' function which allows viewers to filter the entire catalog of live and on-demand content by genre, ratings, popularity and more. Not only that, the PlayStation™Vue has a powerful user interface that delivers personalization and simplicity and viewers are always one click away from quick access to watching, finding, and discovering content.
That having been said, the truly impressive feature is the ability to catch up on content from the past three days without the need to schedule recordings. Viewers can save their favourite shows to the cloud without storage restrictions or scheduling conflicts. Once a show is tagged, the viewer will automatically have access to episodes of that show for 28 days so that they can watch it during their own time.
PlayStation™Vue will initially offer about 75 channels per market from the major players in the entertainment sector. From programmers to local broadcast stations, viewers can enjoy almost all of their favourite movies, TV shows, and sports programs, according to Sony.
The following is a list by Sony on their current network partners:
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CBS - CBS Television Network
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Discovery Communications – Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Discovery Family Channel and 11 more brands.
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Fox – FX, FXX, FXM, National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD. FOX Sports national, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, BTN and Fox's regional sports networks, YES Network and Prime Ticket.
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NBCUniversal – NBC, Telemundo and numerous regional sport channels, Bravo, CNBC, E!, NBCSN, Oxygen, Sprout, Syfy, USA Network and more.
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Scripps Networks Interactive – HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, DIY Network and Cooking Channel.
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Viacom – BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, PALLADIA, Spike, VH1 and more.
As for the price, all pricing and packaging details will be revealed at the PlayStation™Vue commercial launch. There are also no contracts as PlayStation™Vue will be offered on a month-to-month basis without any penalty or customer service hassles and there are absolutely no equipment or installation charges as long as the viewer has broadband internet service and a PlayStation®4 or PlayStation®3 system, added Sony.
The PlayStation™Vue will launch commercially during the first quarter of 2015, but will begin an invite-only, beta preview in November for select PlayStation®4/PlayStation®3 owners, with a rollout starting in New York followed by Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. The TV service will also become available on iPad® shortly thereafter, and later on more Sony and non-Sony devices.
Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Group Executive in charge of the Network Entertainment Business
Everyday TV is about to become extraordinary with our new cloud-based TV service, PlayStation™Vue. PlayStation™Vue reinvents the traditional viewing experience so your programming effortlessly finds you, enabling you to watch much more of what you want and search a lot less. PlayStation™Vue brings the best of live TV and a robust catalog of the latest content, always keeping you connected to what's popular, new and trending. Today's announcement builds on the historic success of PlayStation®4 and demonstrates what our company is capable of when we embrace disruption and stay true to gamers.
