# Playstation Vue shutting down in January 2020



## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

Sony Interactive Entertainment to Shut Down PlayStation Vue

Looks like Sony's venture into live TV streaming is coming to an end.

I wanted to like this service so much, but the UX and random service problems kept me from being able to seriously consider it as a reliable replacement for my DIRECTV service. Vue was the first cable replacement streaming service that offered all channels at a native broadcast framerate of 60fps, and I respect them for setting a bar that other services still fail to meet today *cough*Sling*cough*.


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## mjwagner (Oct 8, 2005)

Disappointing but not unexpected. I’ve been a very satisfied PSVue subscriber for several years now. After trying out just about all the other OTT services at various times I’ve decided to switch to YouTubeTV whenever PSVue finally goes dark. Honestly if it wasn’t for the NFL Channel and RedZone I would have already switched to YouTubeTV.


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## SledgeHammer (Dec 28, 2007)

espaeth said:


> Sony Interactive Entertainment to Shut Down PlayStation Vue
> 
> Looks like Sony's venture into live TV streaming is coming to an end.
> 
> I wanted to like this service so much, but the UX and random service problems kept me from being able to seriously consider it as a reliable replacement for my DIRECTV service. Vue was the first cable replacement streaming service that offered all channels at a native broadcast framerate of 60fps, and I respect them for setting a bar that other services still fail to meet today *cough*Sling*cough*.


Wow. My magic 8 ball was right.


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## TV_Guy (Nov 16, 2007)

mjwagner said:


> Disappointing but not unexpected. I've been a very satisfied PSVue subscriber for several years now. After trying out just about all the other OTT services at various times I've decided to switch to YouTubeTV whenever PSVue finally goes dark. Honestly if it wasn't for the NFL Channel and RedZone I would have already switched to YouTubeTV.


PSVue Core managed to price themselves $5 above YTTV. Not bad when you pickup Hallmark, BeIN, NFL Network and NHL Network plus (Red Zone for an extra $10). Not good when you lose BBC World News, CNBC World and FXM unless you want to go to their $65 Elite package. It's all about the channels that you want. In my case to keep what I had with YTTV it would have been an extra $15 for NFL Network and NHL Network which are not needed all year.


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## B. Shoe (Apr 3, 2008)

UX and service issues aside, did it just ever feel like the branding was a deterrent to grabbing hold with a mainstream audience? I like to think I'm a reasonably knowledgeable person, and even I found myself in the early days of this product thinking, "I don't have a PlayStation. I can't subscribe to that."


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## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

B. Shoe said:


> UX and service issues aside, did it just ever feel like the branding was a deterrent to grabbing hold with a mainstream audience?


The branding created some headwind for sure, but nothing that can't be sorted out with marketing and word of mouth.

Getting past the "I don't have a Playstation" is an easy one-time correction. Convincing people to hang in there with a confusing UX (including that wonky vertical guide) is a much harder task.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

B. Shoe said:


> UX and service issues aside, did it just ever feel like the branding was a deterrent to grabbing hold with a mainstream audience? I like to think I'm a reasonably knowledgeable person, and even I found myself in the early days of this product thinking, "I don't have a PlayStation. I can't subscribe to that."


I thought the same thing at first. Why Sony does things like this is baffling. All the name did was confuse folks.

Rich


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## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

Rich said:


> I thought the same thing at first. Why Sony does things like this is baffling. All the name did was confuse folks.


Take the flip side of that though.

Sony has sold over 50 million PlayStation units in the US over the last decade. Vue even had the benefit of getting some stage time at the PlayStation Experience conference every year since its launch, and despite all those tie-ins the service is shutting down with 500,000 subscribers. Knowing that it was available on other platforms like Roku, FireTV, and AppleTV almost makes it worse because that means that less than 1% of the PlayStation base signed up for the service.

Maybe a lot of people didn't sign up because they thought they needed a PlayStation, but 99% of people _who had a PlayStation_ didn't sign up either. I'm not sure if this is an indictment of the UX issues, a younger generation's lack of interest in linear TV, or maybe both.


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## Rich (Feb 22, 2007)

espaeth said:


> Take the flip side of that though.
> 
> Sony has sold over 50 million PlayStation units in the US over the last decade. Vue even had the benefit of getting some stage time at the PlayStation Experience conference every year since its launch, and despite all those tie-ins the service is shutting down with 500,000 subscribers. Knowing that it was available on other platforms like Roku, FireTV, and AppleTV almost makes it worse because that means that less than 1% of the PlayStation base signed up for the service.
> 
> Maybe a lot of people didn't sign up because they thought they needed a PlayStation, but 99% of people _who had a PlayStation_ didn't sign up either. I'm not sure if this is an indictment of the UX issues, a younger generation's lack of interest in linear TV, or maybe both.


I did try Vue last year. Thing is, I don't use D* much, rather stream from video services and there was nothing I wanted to see. MLB season was over, NFL was over. I should have waited until spring training started. At least I would have had something to record. I tried a Nvidia Shield at that time for the Vue. Wicked fast streamer. I liked that. Needed updates on the apps but that was a positive experience.

Rich


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## BreadDawg (Sep 12, 2016)

Wow, sad to see it. I did a trial with Vue back during the summer and really liked it. I probably would have used PS Vue if I ever decided to cut the chord.


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

Other than the super obvious board room naming stupidity (why not simply 'Sony VUE'?) they outsourced both their programming and their production to two companies that had, at best, abysmal track records, up to and including being fired by such streaming pioneers as MLB and Hulu. Their recent inability to properly manage upgraded UI (user interface) to the #1 popular streaming box (Roku, now with over 50% of the market) doomed any new subscribers. Add to that consistant finger pointing at their current subscriber base that any problems were the fault of their devices or isp (even though their choice of production vendor had direct fiber links to regional isp hubs) was stupidity beyond belief.

In short, yes the price was at the top, but so was the channel count and selection. One still today can't put together a service with ALL the Discovery channels, NFL and MLB networks, reasonable selection of the 4 major local network channels (at least of my dma), without subscribing to at least 2 separate vendors at a price at least $20 above that of psvue and lacking the 5 streams and fairly extensive dvr ability. Going to be hard to replace unless something comes out of the woodwork between now and January (keeping my eye on Vidgo).


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

Lots of changes the last couple days, at least in regards to the roku user interface and psvue app. Last gasp? Changes included a bit of polishing around the dvr system and a couple other areas, and a new version (3.1 build 1) was pushed out. Looks like Bamtech (the company sony outsourced the programming to) might be trying to save the their jobs, as the amount of buffering has also declined (Akamai the cdn for psvue) also getting off their duff? Will wonders never cease, are they trying to line up a buyer at this late date?


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## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

1948GG said:


> Lots of changes the last couple days, at least in regards to the roku user interface and psvue app. Last gasp?


More likely that releases were already in the pipeline, so there was no reason not to ship them.



1948GG said:


> Looks like Bamtech (the company sony outsourced the programming to) might be trying to save the their jobs, as the amount of buffering has also declined (Akamai the cdn for psvue) also getting off their duff?


I believe Sony Interactive Entertainment only contracted with BAMTech on the distribution infrastructure. All of the apps are code-signed under Playstation Mobile Inc.

One other minor nit: BAMTech contracts with multiple CDN partners, including Amazon CloudFront, Akamai, CenturyLink (formerly Level3), Limelight Networks, and a few others.
While you seem to be ending up on Akamai, in the Minneapolis area the primary CDN Vue gets pushed to is CenturyLink/Level(3). It basically all comes down to how much capacity for which the client is willing to pay. (See: As livestreaming grows, so does demand for multiple CDNs )


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## 1948GG (Aug 4, 2007)

Those companies you mention, centurylink/level3 (centurylink owns level3), limelight, and cloudfront, are transmission companies, whereas Akami is a true content distribution (hardware) company, in direct competition with the likes of amazon web services(AWS). Now, they may posit themselves as con's or a hybrid cdn/transmission companies, but in point of fact they essentially transmission companies that have tried to leverage their system plants into cdn's as the market has heated up. 

Akami uses primarily CenturyLink to feed cable (and satellite) internet around the country, and has the contract to host psvue.


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## espaeth (Oct 14, 2003)

Cloudfront isn't a transmission company, Cloudfront _is _AWS. Ten years of securing, accelerating, and scaling apps around the world - Amazon CloudFront marks its 10th anniversary. | Amazon Web Services

Level(3)/CenturyLink and Limelight have been doing content distribution for over a decade. Here's an article from 2010 when Netflix was shifting more content away from Akamai (due to pricing): Limelight, Level 3 Soar on Netflix Report This was all well before Netflix started rolling out its own OpenConnect CDN that they primarily use today.

CenturyLink is only one of several hundred different carriers that Akamai has direct peering relationships with. PeeringDB

BAMTech is now Disney Streaming Services -- these are the folks behind ESPN streaming, Disney+, Hulu Live, and a bunch of other stuff. They have the highlights on the partnerships/accomplishments of the company on the old BAMTech site: Company

BAMTech's specialty is stream origination. They have the pipelines to do all of the content ingestion, metadata marking, transcoding, and encryption management. They produce HLS and DASH content sources to maximize device compatibility for most of the content they process. Until Disney+, they didn't manage any of the distribution servers and contracted that completely out to CDN operators like Akamai, Centurylink/Level(3), and Limelight. (Under Disney+, they will be bringing a fractional portion of operating CDN nodes under their control)

Buffering likely got better because people are jumping ship from PS Vue now that they know it's going away. Content Distribution Networks are expensive to build and operate, which is why almost everyone uses shared capacity on central players like Akamai, Fastly, and Cloudfront. Do a DNS lookup of FedEx, UPS, WellsFargo, USBank, and you'll see Akamai DNS pointers because they're handling all the customer-facing load of those sites. One key attribute of shared services is that you get billed based on what you use, and to keep those bills from skyrocketing out of control, every service gives you the ability to set a cost threshold. The CDN provider itself could have loads of excess capacity, but once you hit your committed peak outbound usage rate, you don't get to use any additional capacity until you pay up.

Nobody at Disney Streaming Services or Akamai (or Level(3) for that matter) is losing their job because PS Vue is exiting the market. The most pressing problem with Vue is that they were too small; they didn't have the subscriber count necessary to have a strong negotiating position with the content producers (Discovery/Scripps, NBC/Universal, etc), and despite all of the CDN capacity they buy for supporting their Playstation gaming console software distribution infrastructure, it still wasn't big enough to gain them any kind of meaningful price break for video content delivery.


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