Following DirecTV Now's addition of numerous local stations for its customers, Sony this week announced the addition of around 200 new local network affiliates for PlayStation Vue users in cities across the United States. These include affiliate partners with ABC, FOX, and NBC in cities like Buffalo, Honolulu, Memphis, Austin, and many more.

ps vue new locals
ABC affiliates on PS Vue now include Cincinnati, Ohio (9 On Your Side); Columbia, South Carolina (ABC Columbia); Corpus Christi, Texas (KIII-TV 3); Lafayette, Louisiana (KATC TV 3); and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (WBRZ 2). A few Fox affiliates include Bangor, Maine (FOX 22); Denver, Colorado (FOX 31); Eureka, California (FOX 28); and Jackson, Mississippi (FOX 40). Lastly, some NBC affiliates include Alexandria, Louisiana (KALB); Anchorage, Alaska (KTUU); Fargo, North Dakota (KVLY); and Lima, Ohio (WLIO). Check out PS Vue's FAQ page for the entire list of new local stations.

PS Vue head Dwayne Benefield made the announcement on the PlayStation Blog:

I am excited to announce that PS Vue users in select markets will gain access to local broadcast stations at no extra cost, starting today. With this expansion, PS Vue now offers more than 450 local ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC stations, in cities all over the US – from Buffalo, NY, to Honolulu, HI.

As we gear up for football season and Fall TV premieres, now over 97% of the US population has access to at least one major broadcast station from ABC, CBS, FOX, and/ or NBC.

Unfortunately, there are many local stations that are restricted from recording shows through PS Vue's cloud DVR, including every station listed above and what appears to be every station added onto the service this week. The company says this restriction is "due to streaming rights," and it also extends to certain on demand channels, HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax.

With the expansion, Sony says PS Vue now supports "more than 450 local stations" from ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC. Like other OTT services, PS Vue lets users stream live television through apps available on iOS, Android, Apple TV, and PlayStation consoles, starting at $44.99/month. Features include being able to stream on up to five devices at once, a cloud DVR, on demand content, and more.

PlayStation Vue is one of the major live TV streaming services along with DirecTV Now, Hulu With Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV.

Top Rated Comments

Agent OrangeZ Avatar
73 months ago
Youtube TV is way better. $35/mo and I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 70+ channels... shared with 6 household family members, 3 streams at a time... and pretty much the big 5 major locals/network affiliate from day 1.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lenard Avatar
73 months ago
Yeah, but you can not DVR any of them...really???
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
73 months ago
Many locals are independent... and thus deals have to be struck with EACH one. I haven't looked up the recent number but a few years ago, there were well over 1000 local stations in the U.S. Wait this lengthy page load out ('https://www.antennasdirect.com/hdtv-station-list.html') and then scroll down to get a sense of them all. Or just read the numbers on Wikipedia ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_television_stations_in_North_America#United_States').

Now, some of these as a group are owned by single (parent) companies (like Sinclair, Tribune and several others), meaning, do a deal with one company and all of their (controlled) stations can be made available. However, many, MANY stations will require a deal to be struck with them... EACH of them. This is no small task. When Satts adopted local channels, it took many years for relatively strong, capitalized players to strike all of the necessary deals. And, someone correct me if I'm wrong here, but even after many years, there were still plenty of locals NOT available via Satt (though some of that by choice, due to the pinch of total bandwidth available via Satt).

I actually think that entitles like Sling (via the AirTV and similar ('https://www.airtv.net/products/airtv/')) may have the best general approach to offering locals in streaming service packages, by building something to attach to an antenna that then weaves individual locals into the rest of the service. Note: in that, I'm not saying Sling is best... just that their approach to delivering locals may be the fastest way to getting the job done all over the country.

This attempt to strike deals with every local broadcaster in the land is just a slow, SLOW model otherwise. Each of them wants to be paid well, even though their broadcast is available for free via an antenna. Each of them is going to want their sub channels carried too because that's more advertising slots to sell, and more eyeballs to claim when selling companies on paying for those commercials.

I think Vue, Hulu, et all should follow the example from Sling and make AirTV-type products OR- better still- make their services play nice with generic boxes like HDHomeRun from Silicon Dust ('https://www.silicondust.com/hdhomerun/'). Otherwise, it's just going to take a very long time for each player to strike their own deals with each broadcaster so that all locals can be streamed without an antenna.

Yes, I fully understand that many people want their locals without having to put up an "ugly" antenna... and that many other people are located in spots where they are unable to get all of their locals in a stable signal. The above is NOT saying to ONLY go that AirTV/HDHomeRun way, just offered as a fastest way to blanket the nation WHILE they continue to try to bring locals to all the other people who would rather stream them only... or could ONLY receive them via streams.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
General iOS 17 Feature Orange Purple

Apple Releases Revised Versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 With Updated Build Number

Wednesday March 27, 2024 5:59 am PDT by
Apple on late Tuesday released revised versions of iOS 17.4.1 and iPadOS 17.4.1 with an updated build number of 21E237, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. The updates previously had a build number of 21E236. The revised updates are available for all iPhone and iPad models that are compatible with iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, but they can only be installed via the Finder app on macOS...
applephilschiller

Apple's Phil Schiller Works 80 Hours a Week Overseeing App Store

Wednesday March 27, 2024 2:03 pm PDT by
With the App Store and app ecosystem undergoing major changes in the European Union, The Wall Street Journal today shared a profile on App Store chief Phil Schiller, who is responsible for the App Store. Though Schiller transitioned from marketing chief to "Apple Fellow" in 2020 to take a step back from Apple and spend more time on personal projects and friends, he is reportedly working...
maxresdefault

Apple to Launch New iPad Pro and iPad Air Models in May

Thursday March 28, 2024 11:07 am PDT by
Apple will introduce new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in early May, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman previously suggested the new iPads would come out in March, and then April, but the timeline has been pushed back once again. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Apple is working on updates to both the iPad Pro and iPad Air models. The iPad Pro models will...
iphone 16 dummies

iPhone 16 Dummy Models Showcase Design Changes, New Buttons

Tuesday March 26, 2024 6:03 am PDT by
Images comparing purportedly accurate dummy models of the iPhone 16 series have been shared online, providing a closer look at the rumored design of the upcoming devices. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to get larger display sizes this year, according to multiple sources, while the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus will be the same size as the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. ...