Sony is now diving into Pay TV service with "PlayStation Vue," an over-the-top subscription service starting off with 74 channels per market that will arrive in the first quarter of 2014
PlayStation Vue was first offered via an exclusive invite-only bêta preview on PS3 and PS4 game consoles but will now run on iPads and other Sony devices.
Sony said it will reveal pricing and packaging details when it launched PlayStation Vue on a commercial basis, but noted that the no-contract offering will offer the service at a "fair and competitive price that is transparent with no hidden fees or charges."
Multichannel reports that Sony was planning to sell a 100 channels for $80 per month.
PlayStation Vue will be made available in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles starting early 2015 and will feature a combination of live and on-demand content from different channels including CBS, Fox, Discovery Communications, NBC Universal, Scripss Networks Interactive and Viacom.
Not included in the list are networks from AMC Networks, Time Warner Inc. (including Turner Broadcasting) and the Disney stable, including ESPN and ABC, but Sony said it will announce more programming partners in the future.
The TV subscription service makes the past three days of popular programming available without the need to schedule recordings, the company said.
"Everyday TV is about to become extraordinary with our new cloud-based TV service, PlayStation Vue," said Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment and group executive in charge of the Network Entertainment Business, in a statement.
"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," House added.
