This week on TechHive: Why is PlayStation Vue struggling?
Last week was a rollercoaster for PlayStation Vue, Sony’s streaming TV bundle.
On Tuesday, the American Consumer Satisfaction Index released the results of its first-ever survey on streaming video services, in which Vue tied for first place with Netflix and Twitch. No other streaming bundle came close.
At the same time, Sony was casting doubt on Vue’s fate, telling investors that the “market and future business model [for Vue] remains uncertain.” CEO Kenichiro Yoshida tried to downplay the implications a day a later, saying that Sony gathers useful data from Vue and has no plans to shut it down, but it’s no secret that Vue isn’t doing well. Analysts estimate that the service has fewer than one million subscribers, well behind Sling TV (2.2 million subscribers as of February) and DirecTV Now (nearly 1.5 million subscribers as of April). And when Sony dropped local stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group earlier this month, the nation’s largest TV broadcaster said it would have “no material impact” on the company due to Vue’s “very small subscriber base.”
Even if PlayStation Vue isn’t in imminent danger, its struggles underscore how cutthroat the streaming TV business has become. In this environment, the services that cord-cutters enjoy most won’t necessarily be the victors. Read the full column on TechHive.
Check it out: The latest free issue of Advisorator, my general tech newsletter, went out to subscribers earlier this week, covering password managers, Alexa’s “eavesdropping” scandal, an excellent mechanical keyboard for cheap, and much more. Read it here, then sign up for the trial run.
Weekly rewind
Philo adds a few channels and a referral program: Sports-free streaming bundle Philo is padding out its lineup with Cheddar, Tastemade, and PeopleTV. These aren’t traditional TV channels, but rather online-only channels that you can already watch for free through the web, their standalone apps, or free streaming aggregators such as Pluto TV and Xumo. Philo’s price isn’t changing from $16 per month, and I’d be surprised if it’s even paying a carriage fee for any of the channels. (Cheddar does not charge carriage fees, and in exchange gets a portion of the ad inventory.)
Philo also announced a referral program this week, in which both the referrer and the new subscriber receive a one-time $5 credit. Head here for instructions.
A small Apple TV update: If you have an Apple TV and use it for listening to music, you might appreciate this week’s update to tvOS 11.4. It adds support for AirPlay 2, which adds support for multi-room audio with other AirPlay 2 speakers.
The update also lets you output Apple TV audio to Apple’s HomePod speaker, but this only makes sense if your TV isn’t connected to any other devices, such as game consoles or Blu-ray players. HomePod playback won’t work when you switch to those inputs.
We might see some more Apple TV news next week during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, but there hasn’t been much chatter from the rumor mill leading up to the event.
I couldn’t find any interesting new deals this week, so let’s go back to the well with DirecTV Now’s device deals. Prepay for three months of service (minimum $105) and get an Apple TV 4K, which normally costs $180. Prepay for a month of service (minimum ($35) and get a Roku Streaming Stick, which normally costs $50 on its own. Sling TV has some device deals as well, including a Roku Express (normally $30) with two months of service. In all cases, you’re paying less than the device’s retail price, and getting some streaming TV service to go with it. Just keep in mind that only new subscribers are elligible.
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