It appears Sony is making leaps and bounds with the PS4, in contrast to Microsoft and the Xbox One with its firm stance on Kinect and delays in multiple markets. Although it was Microsoft who touted ‘TV, TV and TV’ during the Xbox One reveal, it seems it was Sony that has been garnering allies from the television world in the shadows.
Sony has, tentatively at least, agreed to a deal with Viacom whereby they will be able to stream Viacom’s channels on a yet unnamed service. If the plan goes forward, this could mean that you will be able to stream popular channels such as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV (that’s kind of popular right?) as well as all the not-so-popular channels that Viacom provides on the new Sony service with their Internet TVs and, assumingly, on the PS4 as well.
This could be a major shift in TV content distribution as well as the weight of TV on the two next-gen consoles. Whilst Xbox One seems content to merely help you watch contemporary TV with motion control and voice (as well as HBO Go and Netflix), Sony seems to be trying to position itself as a complete content provider with their Internet TVs and PS4, bypassing cable networks completely. With news that Viacom has agreed to a deal, Sony has also reached out to the Walt Disney Company and Time Warner for similar deals.
When the Xbox One first mentioned ‘TV,’ everyone thought it was gimmicky, but it seems TV might play a massive part in this chapter of the console wars yet.
- This article was updated on March 8th, 2018
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