SAN MATEO, Calif.—PlayStation will be strictly a gaming console once again, as the company announced in a blog post that after nearly five years it is shutting down its PlayStation OTT pay-TV service, PlayStation Vue. The official last day for PlayStation Vue will be Jan. 30, 2020.

“We set the bar high and sought to innovate an established industry by delivering a modern TV experience,” the blog post reads. “Unfortunately, the highly competitive pay-TV industry, with expensive content and network deals, has been slower to change than we expected.”

The PlayStation Vue service provided subscribers with live and on-demand content for cable and local broadcast channels. It started with an initial rollout in a few markets and eventually was nationwide by March 2016.

Prior to this announcement, it was being reported that Sony was looking to sell PlayStation Vue.

The company says that PlayStation 4 owners will still be able to access movie and TV content through the PlayStation Store and through partnerships with entertainment apps.

“We are very proud of what PlayStation Vue was able to accomplish,” the blog read. “We had ambitious goals for how our service could change how people watch TV … We want to thank all of our customers, some of whom have been with us since PlayStation Vue’s launch in 2015.”

SAN MATEO, CALIF.—PlayStation Vue continues to expand its services, now offering 11 new local ABC stations and four NBC stations. ABC and NBC stations in Orlando, Pittsburgh and Sacramento have been added, as well as a number of others from across the country.

Read the full article on TVT’s sister publication Multichannel News.

SAN MATEO, CALIF.—PlayStation Vue is now 50 for 50, with Sony Network Entertainment International announcing that the cloud-based TV service is now available nationwide. After launching a year ago and being available in markets like New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Miami, PlayStation Vue has expanded its reach to an additional 203 TV designated market areas, according to Sony.

Consumers in all these markets will be able to access PlayStation Vue’s Slim multi-channel plans, which start at $29.99/month. These “slim” plans include live and on-demand content. Content from ABC, Fox and NBC will only be available as on-demand content as part of the Slim plans, with most on-demand content becoming available within 24 hours of airing. Sony says that CBS live and on-demand content will be added to select markets at a later date.

There are three multi-channel plans available to consumers as of this announcement:

• Access Slim – 55+ channels, including live cable TV, movies and sports channels for $29.99/month.
• Core Slim – 70+ channels, including all Access Slim channels and the addition of live national and regional sports networks for $34.99/month.
• Elite Slim – 100+ channels, including all channels from Core Slim package, with the addition of movie and entertainment channels for $44.99/month.

All plans include a seven-day free trial for first time subscribers, Sony reports.

Additional features of the Playstation Vue include Cloud DVR, simultaneous streaming across different devices, and an intuitive interface with search and discovery tools.

Consumers can access PlayStation Vue with an Internet connection and a PlayStation Vue TV-connected device, which—according to Sony—includes a PlayStation 4, PlayStation3, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, as well as the PlayStation Vue mobile app through iPad and iPhone.