Sony’s PlayStation Vue streaming service has become the first virtual pay TV platform to become available through the Apple TV app, the native application for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV devices.
The Vue app has been available for Apple's iOS and tvOS devices for some time. But this still matters to owners of those devices, since they don’t have to toggle between separate apps to find their programming. Users still need to download the Vue app to their device and log into their account. However, once they do, the Apple TV app will pull all of the live and on-demand programming they get through Vue and place it into relevant Apple TV buckets.
Related: Sony Adds 200 Locals to PlayStation Vue, Stays in vMVPD Fight
For example, on-demand content will all be placed into the “Watch Now” section of the Apple TV app, while shows a viewer has already started will be available in the “Up Next” bucket.
The Apple TV app has supported TV Everywhere apps from individual programmers like CBS and AMC for some time. But to import the content into the Apple TV app, users had to download each TVE app they wanted and authenticate their multi-channel subscription.
Notably, once users select content pulled from Vue, the Apple TV app will direct the user back to the Vue app. That’s how the Apple TV app works for content from other devices, as well.
Vue is an outlier among vMVPDs, with others hesitant to give up control of the user experience. But Vue could certainly use a good user experience edge in a competitive market.
Vue launched more than three years ago, but according to Strategy Analytics estimates released over the summer, only has around 745,000 subscribers.
