Sony to Shut Down PlayStation Vue in Three Months
Bad news today for PlayStation Vue subscribers as Sony announced it will shut down its live TV streaming service on January 30th, 2020 after failing to find a new buyer.
Sony today announced that its live TV streaming service PlayStation Vue was shutting down on January 30th, 2020. The abrupt announcement comes just days after news broke that Sony was looking for a service buyer. PlayStation Vue launched in 2015 and was an early player in the cord cutting movement. It offered several packages and so-called “skinny bundles” that cost much less than a typical package from a traditional cable or satellite provider.
Sony Shutting Down PlayStation Vue
However, even after price hikes across the board for all subscribers, Sony couldn’t make the service cost-effective. It continued to lose subscribers and had difficulty competing with similar services such as Sling TV and others. And by putting “PlayStation” in the name, most people (and potential new customers) thought it was limited to the PlayStation console only. But you didn’t need to own a PlayStation at all. It was available across all platforms the same way similar services are.
In its announcement today, the company said the following:
Today we are announcing that we will shut down the PlayStation Vue service on January 30, 2020. Unfortunately, the highly competitive Pay TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected. Because of this, we have decided to remain focused on our core gaming business.
We are very proud of what PlayStation Vue was able to accomplish. We had ambitious goals for how our service could change how people watch TV, showcasing PlayStation’s ability to innovate in a brand-new category within the Pay TV industry. We want to thank all of our customers, some of whom have been with us since PlayStation Vue’s launch in 2015.
If you’re a cord cutter and have been a long-time subscriber, it’s time to start thinking about choosing a new service. The good news here is there are several options to choose from that offer similar pricing and channel packages. Other services to consider included Hulu Live, Sling TV, Fubo TV, and YouTube TV.
Some 500,000 loyal subscribers (including yours truly) will need to find a new one.
