Sony Says the Future of Playstation Vue is 'Uncertain' A new survey (pdf) by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index indicates that Sony's Playstation Vue streaming service is tied for first place in customer satisfaction (tying Netflix and Twitch). But this week Sony gave hints that the service may not be around forever. Speaking at the company's Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy meetings in Tokyo, Japan this week, the company stated that the service isn't going anywhere anytime soon, but that the "market and future business model (for PlayStation Vue) remains uncertain."

Numerous analysts have made note of the fact that the service, despite being popular with cord cutters (check out our 2016 review ), has yet to pass 1 million subscribers despite three years on the market. In contrast, services like Dish's Sling TV had 2.2 million subscribers as of February 2018. And AT&T's DirecTV Now streaming service hit the 1.4 million subscriber mark back in April. There's also the fact that given the high costs of licensing content, streaming services simply aren't all that profitable. Estimates recently indicated that Google is losing $60 million a year at that service's $40 price point, just so Google can try and grab market share. Still, Sony executives made it clear that they hope to continue doing battle with industry giants on the advertising front. “The data mega players (such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook) are so powerful they are capable of doing all kinds of things," Sony’s CEO Kenichiro Yoshida said at the event. Yoshida stated Sony's overall survival depends on the "extent to which we can take control of data and AI." Sony's full presentation can be found Sony's full presentation can be found here (pdf) for those interested.







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Most recommended from 40 comments

existenz

join:2014-02-12 16 recommendations existenz Member Naming it 'Playstation' Vue was a huge mistake Many think you need a Playstation to use the service. How did they not catch this? It's a pretty good service as OTT goes, too bad the error is simply the name.

Anone698d

@charter.com 9 recommendations Anone698d Anon Change the name Idiots that came up with the name don't realize too many idiots think you need a PlayStation to use it. Should have called it Sony Vue Tv from the start. tegelad

join:2002-09-18

Whitesboro, TX 6 recommendations tegelad Member Finally was able to stream I have tested Youtube TV, Playstation Vue, SlingTV. I am not going to give AT&T another dollar .... so don't ask about DirecTV Now.



If they had CW .... I would have never played with SlingTV or Youtube TV ...



Youtube TV has the best performance, followed by Playstation Vue, then SlingTV



Youtube TV is the only one that has all the locals. IF this is important this is the service to get, but it's selection is "limited"

Playstation Vue has the best quality, cost, and availability of channels with the exception of the CW. It has a reliable quality and good UI; however, I find the local channel guide watching ... not good since everything is now on-demand ....

SlingTV has the most robust of the channel and configuration flexibility.



The two combo's that replicate the DirecTV view of Premier is



Sony Vue Ultra + Premiums ($91)

SlingTV Blue + 4 pack + premiums ($61)

CW Application via chromecast (free)



-or-



Youtube TV ($45)

SlingTV Blue + all premiums + 4 Pack (believe it is around $100



Nvidia Shield TV with infrared remote as the head devices.



I hope Sony sticks around, but I do get and understand if they pull the plug .... SteveFL

join:2009-01-07

Gainesville, FL ·Cox HSI

5 recommendations SteveFL Member Best 3rd party support Of all the streaming services I tried, they had the best support for using 3rd party apps.



Only reason they aren't gaining customers is price. The $55/12 month promo for ultimate worked great for me. The $75 price point after it ended is $20 over what I'm willing to pay -- especially since they lost Viacom and still increased the cost.

TimSpencer

join:2001-05-18

Arvada, CO 205.5 10.7

4 recommendations TimSpencer Member Hoping that's not the case Love everything about this service....performance, UI, ease of use, quality of content, price point, For a brief time they even carried all 4 local stations here in Denver (NBC bailed, but getting via digital antenna). I've tried, Sling, Now, and YouTube, none of which hold a candle to what PSV offers.

maartena

Elmo

Premium Member

join:2002-05-10

Orange, CA 3 recommendations maartena Premium Member The demise of "Channel" based delivery of content.... A great portion of cord cutters aren't using an OTT service at all. Content is slowly moving from a "channel" based delivery (the old fashioned "watch your new show on channel Z at 8 PM Thursdays") to an on-demand based delivery ("new season will be released June 1st", or "new episodes will become available every Monday at 12:00 EST")



People still want "channels" because they are still used to that type of delivery of content, others want it because they want a "background" channel just running for the noise or the hell of it, or because they want news/sports in live format. And although those use cases are totally valid, I'm sure that within the next decade or so, the concept of "channels" will be reduced to a handful of "broadcast" networks, a number of sports and news networks... and that's it. Big shows may still appear on the broadcast networks using an old style "grid guide" schedule, but 90% of all content will have moved to on-demand delivery.....



I see services like Playstation VUE and Sling and DirecTV Now as a "transition service", meant for those who aren't ready to give up almost 70 years of "channels" based delivery of shows in favor of switching to fully on-demand. Obviously the availability date of content plays a role in this, as well as news and sports....