Sony announced today its newest venture in home media, one that aims to make the PlayStation an even more central part of a household.
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PlayStation Vue is Sony's newly announced TV service that allows customers to forgo their traditional cable or satellite providers. Launching in a closed beta for select PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 owners this month (thanks, CNET), PlayStation Vue will provide access to shows from around 75 channels thanks to its lineup of media partners. Already on board with the cloud-based service are networks like CBS, Discovery, Fox, NBC, Viacom and all of the subsidiaries that those power players command.
Sony is also planning on announcing more partners in the future, so don't despair too much just yet about the conspicuous lack of HBO or any of the Disney family of channels.
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When it launches early next year, the service will not require a contract, instead working on a monthly subscription model, much like Netflix and Hulu. The company is aiming for pricing transparency and staying away from hidden fees that other television providers like to throw in to their services. Further, the only things needed to use the service are an Internet connection and either a PlayStation 3 or PlayStation 4. Sony won't reveal exactly how much this service will cost, however, until the commercial release next year.
PlayStation Vue is set to grant users access to both live TV and on-demand. Various features of the system make life easy for those who like to binge watch or generally don't like watching TV as it airs. The service saves the past three days' worth of popular shows, so no TiVo-ing is required. And when a user selects a favorite show, the system will make episodes of that show available for 28 days, giving them plenty of time to catch up at their own pace.
After PlayStation Vue starts its beta on PlayStation consoles, the service is planned to roll out to iPads and other unspecified devices, as well.
