Over the next week, we will be taking a look back at each of the 7 Live TV Streaming Service’s past year, and what their 2019 New Year’s resolution should be. Yesterday, we shared our resolution for Hulu Live TV, and today we will look at PlayStation Vue.
It’s been a big year for Live TV Streaming Services. We’ve seen them add hundreds of local channels, expand their DVRs, add new channels, stream in 4K and unfortunately, in some cases raise prices.
None have had a more wild year than PlayStation Vue. Some reports called 2018 the year of their demise, while others called it the year of their revival.
PlayStation Vue Year-In-Review
While other companies were giving away free devices like Halloween candy, PlayStation Vue had more standard promotions like 50% off your first month or an extended 14-Day Free Trial.
This held the company back for a lot of the year. While companies like Hulu Live TV and AT&T TV NOW saw huge gains in subscribers, PlayStation Vue saw mild growth. It didn’t help that they spent most of the year in a fight with local affiliate giant Sinclair. In May, Sinclair locals were pulled from the service, which left many subscribers without their local channels.
The second half of the year they tried to battle back. Just a few weeks later, just in time for the World Cup, they added a national Fox feed in markets that lost their local Fox affiliate.
In early July, they followed in the footsteps of Sling TV and AT&T TV NOW, and raised prices across plans by $5 a month. Many thought this would backfire, especially after raising prices in 2017 despite losing Viacom channels in late-2016. Since it came at the same time of other services, it didn’t seem to have a major effect.
Then entering September, the company seemed to hit its stride. In late August, before NFL season, they added 200 new local affiliates including locals from Tribune that were pulled in late-2017.
In late September, they added 87 Sinclair affiliates, putting them just behind Hulu Live TV with nearly 600 local affiliates. The one negative aspect of the new local channels were that they came with unskippable ads on recorded shows.
In October, the company focused on device-specific features. They added support to stream on two simultaneous PS4 devices. Then they became the first live streaming service to integrate with Apple's TV App and Amazon's Fire TV Guide.
In Mid-November, they added to their already compelling $10 a month Sports Pack that includes NFL RedZone, Longhorn Network, and Fox College Sports with national feeds of Fox and NBC Regional Sports Networks.
So when we look ahead to 2019, PlayStation Vue all doesn’t seem as bad as the doomsayers make it seem. Sure, we would like them to add back skippable ads on more local affiliates and show a preview while fast-forwarding on your DVR (which they seem to be testing).
But, for PlayStation Vue to be truly successful they have to consider changing the name.
PlayStation Vue’s 2019 New Year’s Resolution
Our resolution for PlayStation Vue in 2019 is to take the “PlayStation” out of “PlayStation Vue.”
When we recommend “PlayStation Vue” to cord-cutters, most people respond with “but, I don’t have a PlayStation.” It’s holding the company back more than anyone is willing to admit. They honestly could pick anything at this point, “Sony Vue, “PS Vue”, “Vue TV”, or “Sony TV” and it would be better.
The company knows it too, but has tried to work their way around it. All the money the company has saved by not giving out free devices, they’ve spent on hundreds of airings of national commercials highlighting the fact that you don’t need a PlayStation. Their most recent spot says, “I can watch live football on my devices including my phone, without a PlayStation console.”
Every dollar PlayStation spends on educating consumers that they don’t need a PlayStation could be spent on acquiring customers, improving their product, or adding new channels. PlayStation Vue is an extremely good streaming product, if only people knew they could use it. So please change your name in 2019, so you can focus on what customers actually care about — creating an even better Live TV streaming service.
Want to Learn More About Live TV Streaming Services?
- You can read our comprehensive PlayStation Vue review which highlights channels, features, performance, and supported devices, and more.
- You can read comparison of 7 different cord-cutting services including DIRECTV NOW, PlayStation Vue, fuboTV, Hulu Live TV, Philo, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.
- If you need a recommendation, use Channel Finder to add your favorite channels, shows, and sports teams and we’ll tell you the best service for you.