Now on Amazon Fire TV
“Cut the cord.”
You’ve seen the pitch a million times. While it will take a lot more time until all of the Adam Levine-loving,Voice-watching watching baby boomers truly cut enough cords to make online television really take off, many companies are keen to get you to drop your cable service right now.
The latest kids on the block this year are Sling TV, and now, Sony with PlayStation Vue, which just hit Amazon Fire TV in addition to the launch platform of the PS4. After using both of them for some time I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but they have a little ways to go yet.
Originally just available in select major cities earlier this year, Vue has begun rolling out nationwide. While the UI is sleek and the app is incredibly easy to use, Vue also has the unfortunate side effect of being relatively expensive — almost negating the benefit of jettisoning cable. While Sling TV offers a basic package starting at $20 (23 channels with add-ons), the cheapest Vue package is $50 minimum. “Access” starts you off with over 50 channels ($50), “Core” nets you over 60 ($55), and “Elite” ($65) is over 85.
To be honest you can get away with Access, as the only real missing channels from the other packages are FXM and IFC — most of the core cable channels (Comedy Central, HGTV, Food Network, FX, AMC) are there. If you’re curious you can check out the full channel listinghere, and if you’re wondering about Disney, Sony just signed a deal with them last month to bring ESPN and other channels to the service at an undisclosed date.
It does have another leg up on its competition though — DVR support. Although it’s a bit too streamlined for my tastes, you can “favorite” shows that you have access to, and re-watch previously aired episodes that fall within a 28-day mark. The catch is, it doesn’t work for every program. For instance,Brooklyn Nine-Nineand all other Fox shows only have the last aired episode available, though other shows that fall within a certain package (likeHomelandon Showtime orFargoon FX) have the whole season on-demand. Additionally, some shows don’t have fast-forward capabilities — only pause support.
There’s also the question of convenience. Sling TV has an app for the Roku and Xbox One ready to go now. While support for the former is probably already in the works for Vue, the latter is likely not going to happen. All of these provisos basically serve to illustrate the fact that jumping into the world of online cable isn’t the smoothest transition this early in the game. As the influence of the older generation wanes though it will likely catch on more, and as a result, content providers will start to shift to accommodate for it. But for now, watching all of the shows you want without cable is almost like completing a jigsaw puzzle.
We’re already seeing a surge in individual on-demand apps, but unfortunately, a large number of them are still tethered to cable. With HBO moving to HBO Now and Showtime offering up add-on packages for Hulu and Amazon though, things are starting to change. Keep Vue in the back pocket for now.
