Adding a key streaming platform to its repertoire, PlayStation Vue, Sony’s OTT-TV service, has launched an app for Roku players and integrated Roku TVs.
Sony also said it will add support for Android smartphones and tablets sometime next week.
The addition of Roku and coming expansion on Android broadens the streaming platform universe for PS Vue, which also supports PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles, Amazon Fire TV boxes and the Fire TV Stick, iOS devices (via the PS Vue mobile app), along with optimization for the Google Chromecast (initially via iOS devices).
Roku recently crossed 10 million active monthly users, also supports an authenticated app for Charter Communications and has a deal in place to create an app that will support Comcast’s full suite of pay TV services, including the X1 cloud DVR.
“What we want to do is to be like Switzerland in this mix and offer as much choice as possible and have the best content offering, and then give tools so you can watch what you want on the terms that you want to pay for," Matthew Anderson, Roku’s chief marketing officer, said last week during a keynote chat here at the NextTV Summit & Expo in San Francisco.
PS Vue, which has teamed on a subscription drive promo with ESPN during the Euro 2016 soccer tournament, launched a trio of “Slim” pay TV packages that are available on a national basis in March. Last month, Sony confirmed last month that PlayStation Vue also offers the local feeds of ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in all of their respective owned-and-operated markets.
PS Vue, which offers a cloud DVR, markets three packages – Access ($29.99 per month, or $39.99 in cities with major live local broadcast stations); Core ($34.99//$44.99); and Elite ($44.99/$54.99). It also offers standalone/a la carte services such as Showtime, Machinima, Fox Soccer Plus, and “Premium Pack” bundle (Showtime and Epix Hits).
