Sorry Apple (AAPL), Sony’s Vue Is the Cord-Cutting Service to Watch

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The entire point of streaming TV through the Internet is to cut traditional cords, like Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) and other cable service providers. While not quite there yet (we still depend on the cable companies to put those broadband pipes in homes), we are closer than ever to clicking on those cheaper “Internet Only” packages.

Sony PlayStation Vue TV
Source: playstation.com

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been working on its Apple TV for a few years now, but competition from DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) and Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE) has painted Apple TV into a corner it has slim chance of escaping from.

Here’s why Apple is at a disadvantage.

Sony Gives Us a Better Reason to Cut the Cord

AAPL looked like it had a clear view ahead of it in the MVPD race, until DISH came out of nowhere to release Sling TV, and Sony followed suit by offering its PlayStation Vue (PSV) service in New York City, Chicago and Philadelphia.

Rumor has it AAPL is set to offer a slim channel bundle for a price in the $40 range, but isn’t having much luck coming to a deal with Comcast for its NBCUniversal properties, which include Bravo and USA.

Apple’s service isn’t expected to even see an official announcement until June, and probably won’t see release until September, losing valuable lead time to both DISH and SNE, among other MVPDs.

If correct, $40 for roughly 25 channels isn’t exactly enticing, not with cheaper options from Sling TV and more thorough choices from PSV.

In contrast, PlayStation Vue is looking more like a cord-cutter’s dream and bigger threat to AAPL than even DISH’s Sling TV. Whereas AAPL looks like it’s going to market itself to customers who don’t want to pay cable prices and only need a few channels, PSV streams a comprehensive lineup of over 80 channels, including AMC Networks Inc (NASDAQ:AMCX), Fox News Networks, Turner Broadcasting and, yes, CMCSA’s NBC and NBCUniversal’s cable networks, Bravo and USA (the latter having the distinction of being the No. 1 rated cable network).

So, while you can watch ESPN on Apple’s streaming service, good luck watching the Olympics on an Apple TV.

SNE Offers a Better Living Room Experience

Steve Jobs famously referred to Apple TV as his “hobby,” and AAPL hasn’t shown much initiative in transforming Jobs’ hobby into a viable business. Sure, it’s sold roughly 20 million units, but it took more than eight years to get there. Sony’s PlayStation 4 has an installed base of over 20.2 million worldwide in less than two years.

Apple’s been sniffing around over-the-top (OTT) Internet TV for at least the last five years, but it seems Jobs’ vision describes Sony’s PSV more than it does the info surrounding Apple TV:

“It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud.’ No longer would users have to fiddle with complex remotes for DVD players and cable channels. ‘It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.”

To fulfil Jobs’ “cracked” Da Vinci code of TV, AAPL needs its TV service to replace the “stuck back in the seventies” television sets currently occupying living rooms worldwide. Sony is much closer to doing that, as its PlayStation 4 is a more capable and complete device for the center of the living room.

Enter Sony’s Project Morpheus, a virtual reality headset in line with the Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) Oculus, which promises more useful applications than just gaming. Take a look at the way Engadget described watching movies on an early VR device from Samsung Elect Ltd (OTCMKTS:SSNLF):

“Lying on my back, watching a movie in a virtual cinema is an incredible experience, and one that I’m confident other folks will also dig. It’s a dramatically better experience than watching video on your phone…Oculus Cinema (to say nothing of 360 video viewing) is a dramatic improvement over watching video on a phone. Hell, it’s an improvement over watching video on your home TV — unless you’ve got a home cinema? Maybe you do, fancy pants! I don’t, and neither do most people. This functionality alone has me anxiously anticipating YouTube, Netflix, Hulu and other video apps.”

What’s more, Sony’s latest PS4 update adds a suspend/resume feature, allowing users to instantly jump out of a game and into another feature, like Vue, without hassle. It’s also adding customized button settings, zoom for all system functions and apps, text-to-speech, and larger and bolder fonts.

Why is that a big deal? Because SNE is adding a higher level of convenience to the PS4 experience, one that doesn’t leave out those with deeper accessibility needs, like the elderly and hard of seeing/hearing.

Apple has a dizzyingly enormous consumer base, but even so, Apple’s streaming service is limited to just those devices in the iOS ecosystem — iPhone, iPad, Apple TV. Sling TV is compatible with Xbox One from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Roku, and Fire TV from Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). PlayStation Vue works on Sony’s game consoles — PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 — and will eventually land on mobile devices.

Sony’s PlayStation Vue is the closest to getting us to that ultimate living room experience, but even though SNE’s service offers the most comprehensive TV service outside of cable, it still needs a better price point to entice customers to cut cable completely out of the, um, picture.

As of this writing, John Kilhefner did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. 


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/03/apple-tv-aapl-sling-playstation-vue/.

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