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Sony's PlayStation Vue internet TV service is launching within two weeks

Sony's PlayStation Vue internet TV service is launching within two weeks

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Three cities to start, with a nationwide rollout by year's end

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Sony's internet TV service, PlayStation Vue, will come out of beta and launch commercially in three major cities within the next two weeks. The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony will offer Vue in New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia to start — cities where invited testers have already been using the service for months. PlayStation Vue runs on Sony's PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 consoles. The goal is to roll out Vue nationwide by the end of 2015, Sony's Andrew House said in an interview with the Journal.

Announced back in November, PlayStation Vue will bundle a number of popular channels including CBS, FOX, NBC, Comedy Central, FX, Discovery, and many more. Much like Sling TV, you'll be able to watch live streams of those networks and "catch up" by watching episodes that've aired in recent days. But Sony's service will have more channels — around 75 in each market — and allow for recorded shows to be stored in the cloud for 28 days.

We still have no idea how much it will cost

The major question around PlayStation Vue is the monthly subscription price; some expect Sony to charge anywhere from $50 to $80 for the service. And at that point, it's not far off from cable. But to its credit, Sony looks to have built an attractive user interface that's a bit nicer and more intuitive than Sling TV's current experience. Speaking of Sling, Sony has also been unable to bring ESPN (one of Dish's big exclusives) to Vue. "Even absent ESPN we are very confident that we have a very robust offering in the sports area with existing partnerships," House told the Journal.

Sony has said it eventually plans to take PlayStation Vue beyond its two consoles with apps for iPad and other devices. It's a big moment for internet TV; Sling has reportedly allied 100,000 subscribers since opening signups, according to Recode. And just two days ago, HBO finally unveiled its standalone subscription service, HBO Now, which will launch in April at $14.99 per month.