PSVue Aims to Vanquish the Bundle

Over the past couple years, legislative action by members of Congress to force the end of the cable bundle has summarily stalled.

Despite this, it seems like many top television company CEOs have been coming around in terms of new and different offerings for frustrated consumers.

At an investors’ conference last week, Cablevision chief executive James Dolan recognized that the industry appears to be evolving, seeing “a reduction in the amount of customers that are taking the big bundle.”

In a new survey released by Digitalsmiths, 81.6% of respondents revealed that they’re interested in a more customizable type of TV service – a decidedly majority percentage that follows the same trend line as other polls.

Sony’s PlayStation Vue officially fired the opening shots at the traditional bundle on June 15 at the E3 video game conference, revealing that users will be able to pick and choose the channels that they desire.

“We’ll be the first pay-TV service to allow users to subscribe to individual channels without the purchase of a multichannel bundle,” said Sony Computer Entertainment President Andrew House.

“[PlayStation Vue is] not just a streaming service, it’s a complete live-TV experience designed for the gamer, making it simpler and easier to find the television they want,” House added.

So far this year, companies like Cablevision, Apple, DirecTV, Comcast and Dish Network have developed “skinny bundle” tiers for a lower price, however PlayStation Vue’s program will truly be the first a la carte TV option.

If their system proves to be successful, perhaps major telecoms and cable companies will look a bit more closely at Vue’s model.

PlayStation Vue is currently available in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

Author: Brian Cameron
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