I took the opportunity to test drive PlayStation Vue recently, to see how it works and whether soccer fans may find it useful to watch the Beautiful Game.
Here are the pros and cons:
CONS
1. PlayStation Vue is more expensive than Sling TV. The cheapest plan PlayStation Vue has is $29.99/month compared to Sling Orange for $20/month or Sling Blue for $25/month. If you’re looking to save money, PlayStation Vue may not be the solution you want.
2. With PlayStation Vue, some channels are not available to watch on mobile phones or tablets even if you pay to subscribe to those channels. You can watch them on your PS3/PS4 or Roku, for example, but some of the channels aren’t accessible when watching PS Vue on your mobile device. According to PlayStation, they say that “Some channels are not available through PlayStation Vue Mobile due to streaming rights, and will be marked as such with a Mobile Restricted badge.”
3. You can’t use PlayStation Vue at your friend or family’s house, or on the road. For some strange season, PlayStation Vue ties your account to your home location. So if you do want to use it outside of your home, you’re unable to do so (there are some workarounds, however). On top of that, if your IP address changes for any reason, expect an array of error messages.
4. If you want to watch PlayStation Vue on your Windows PC or Apple computer, you can’t. There’s no app available for the PC, unlike Sling TV which runs on PCs and Apple computers. You have to watch PS Vue through an approved device such as a PS4, Roku, etc.
5. PlayStation Vue isn’t available on as many devices as fuboTV or Sling TV. You can watch PlayStation Vue only on a PS3 or PS4, or an Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, iPad, iPhone, Android and Roku.
In comparison, Sling TV is available on:
Windows 7 & higher, Apple computers (Lion 10.7 & higher), Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire tablet (running Android 4.4.2+), Roku, Android TV, ZTE, Channel Master, Apple iOS 8 (& higher) phones & tablets, Android 4.0.3 (and higher) phones & tablets and Xbox One.
fuboTV, meanwhile is available on:
Windows PC, Mac, Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, Apple TV, Android smartphones, Android tablets, Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Amazon Kindle.
6. PlayStation Vue doesn’t provide access to beIN SPORTS Connect. And without beIN SPORTS Connect, you won’t be able to watch many La Liga, Championship, Serie A, Capital One Cup games, as well as other programming. In comparison, fuboTV provides access to beIN SPORTS Connect.
7. You have to create a PlayStation Network account in order to sign up for a trial to PlayStation Vue. If you already have a PS3 or PS4, then that’s no big deal. But if you don’t have either of those two consoles, you have to register for the PlayStation Network account, and then sign up for the PlayStation Vue trial. With Sling TV and fuboTV, you just sign up for the free trial and you’re in.
8. If you want to sign up for a free 7-day trial to PS Vue on your Roku, you can’t. You have to go to the PlayStation website, sign up for a free PlayStation Network account and then sign up for the trial. It’s a shame you can’t sign up for a free trial directly from the Roku device.
9. When you sign up for a free trial to PlayStation Vue, there’s even more steps. You have to select your sex (male/female), enter your birth date and create a profile name.
10. The user interface for PlayStation Vue isn’t as good or as easy to use as Sling TV. In particular, Sling TV’s recently improved app for the Roku is much better than PS Vue.
PROS
1. PlayStation Vue’s selection of channels available is very comprehensive. For the Elite Slim package, which is $44.99 per month, you get:
FOX on demand, NBC on demand, ABC on demand, AMC, American Heroes, Animal Planet, beIN SPORTS, BET, BET Gospel, BET Jams, Boomerang, Bravo, BTN, BTN Alternate, Cartoon Network, Centric, Chiller, Cloo, CMT, CMT Music, CNBC, CNBC World, CNN, Comedy Central, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery Channel, Discovery Family, Discovery Life Channel, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, DIY, E!, EPIX Hits, ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN2, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, Esquire Network, Food Network, FOX Business, FOX College Sports, FOX Deportes, FOX News, FOX Sports regional, Freeform, FS1, FS2, Fusion, FX, FXM, FXX, Golf, HGTV, HI-YAH, HLN, IFC, IMPACT, Investigation Discovery, Logo, Machinima, MGM, MSNBC, MTV, MTV Hits, MTV Live, MTV2, MTVU, Nat Geo Wild, National Geographic Channel, NBCSN, Nick Jr., Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, One World Sports, Outside Television, OWN, Oxygen, Poker Central, POP, Science, SEC Network, Sony Movie Channel, Spike, Sprout, SundanceTV, SyFy, TBS, Teen Nick, TLC, TNT, Travel Channel, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, TV Land, Universal, USA, Velocity, VH1, VH1 Classic, WE tv
2. Unlike Sling TV, you can pause and rewind ESPN programming.
3. PS Vue allows you to stream content in every room of your house at no additional charge. With Sling TV, you’re limited to the number of streams you can run concurrently.
4. PlayStation Vue provides access to NBC Sports App and ESPN3, which opens the door to a lot of soccer programming that isn’t available on NBCSN and the ESPN channels.
PlayStation Vue, while offering NBCSN and the NBC Sports App as well as other soccer networks, is a worthy contender in the soccer streaming space, but isn’t perfect by any means. The quest to find the ultimate streaming service that offers everything you could possibly need continues. PlayStation Vue comes close, but hopefully a more cost-effective and comprehensive service will be available in the near future.
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