TV is fantastic these days, but cable? Not so much. The fees, the equipment, and the sudden end to your “introductory rate” are enough to make you read a book. The market desperately needs a middle path between Netflix and Comcast.

That’s exactly what PlayStation Vue, which launches today in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago, wants to provide. The slick-looking service puts live TV and cloud-based DVR on your PS4, PS3, and eventually, the iPad. Multiple users in the same home can access Vue at the same time to watch shows and movies as they air on cable channels like Comedy Central, CNN, Cartoon Network, and FX, and major networks like Fox, CBS, NBC, and CBS. (The caveat, however, is that while up to three consoles can access Vue simultaneously, only one PS4 can be among those three.) Content from some channels can also be streamed within three days of airing, depending on whether or not the channel that aired it has “catch-up” rights.

But in what appears to be a strange bit of red tape, you’re not actually required to catch a show live or within the three day catch-up window (when applicable) if you want to stay current. Through the “Favorites” feature, Vue’s approximation of DVR, you can favorite a show or a movie and get 28 days of access to episodes or the full-length feature after they’ve gone live. You also get the ability to fast forward through commercials in addition to on-demand TV’s existing ability to pause and rewind a stream.If you’re confused, the distinction between favorited shows and general on-demand access appears to be the result of the legal backbends Sony had to perform in order to license all of Vue’s content. When asked, Sony PR told me that yes, if you wanted to, you could favorite pretty much everything in sight to get consistent 4-week access to it all—it’s entirely doable because all content is streamed from Sony servers. You don’t lose any hard drive space to Vue. You are dependent on your connection to stream episodes, though; Sony says a 10Mbps connection should do for one console streaming 1080p content.

Access



Price: $49.99 Viewers can start enjoying more than 50 of the most popular channels of live TV, movies, and sports with PlayStation Vue’s basic starter package. Core



Price: $59.99 Core includes all Access package channels, plus the following local sports channels for select markets. Elite



Price: $69.99 Elite provides the ultimate PlayStation Vue experience, and includes all channels from Access and Core packages, plus the following lifestyle, music, and family channels. Broadcast: CBS, CBS Plus, Cozi TV, Exitos, FOX, MyNetwork, NBC, Telemundo.Network: Animal Planet, BET, Bravo, Cartoon/Adult Swim, CBS, CMT, CNBC, CNN, Comedy Central, Destination America, Discovery Channel, Discovery Family, DIY, E!, Esquire, Food Network, Fox Business, Fox News Networks, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, FX, FXX, HGTV, HLN, Investigation Discovery, MSNBC, MTV, MTV2, Nat Geo, NBC Sports Network, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, OWN, Oxygen, Science, Spike, Syfy, TBS, TLC, TNT, TruTV, Travel Channel, TV Land, USA Network, VH1. AMC will be available in April. Network: BTN, Golf Channel, TCM.

New York Only: YES Network.

Philadelphia Only: Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia.

Chicago Only: Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Network: American Heroes, BET Gospel, Boomerang, Centric, Chiller, Cloo, CMT Pure Country, CNBC World, Cooking Channel, Discovery Fit & Health, FOX College Sports Atlantic, FOX College Sports Central, FOX College Sports Pacific, FXM, LOGO, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, mtvU, Nat Geo Wild, PALLADIA, Sprout, TeenNick, Universal, Velocity, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul.

If that all sounds good, be warned that there are a couple of downsides. Vue is hanging on to two staples of the cable industry: tiered packages and steep pricing. “Access” is the cheapest Vue package at $50 per month, though it does boast an attractive array of channels. Sports fans in certain areas will probably be tempted to size up to “Core,” for $60 per month to score Comcast SportsNet. And for folks who really love college sports and music video channels, there’s the “Elite” tier for $70 per month.Thankfully, though, Vue is contract-free. You can just grab a month and then let it expire. Given the expense, that seems like what most users will do: subscribe when a new season of their favorite shows starts, then soak up streaming content until their subscription lapses.While the end of cable companies is still a ways off, the alternatives are getting better everyday: PlayStation Vue has come out of the gate looking like the most full-featured offering yet. While it may prove too expensive and restrictive to truly disrupt the cable industry, it’s a huge step in the right direction. And when it gets AMC in April, it’ll give the millions of PlayStation owners a reason to consider the service for their next Walking Dead fix.