Today Cord Cutters News has heard from several readers across the United States that PlayStation Vue recently dropped NBC On Demand from their lineup. The NBC On Demand channel was previously offered to PlayStation Vue subscribers who did not receive NBC locals. The channel would offer on-demand access to many NBC primetime shows.
It now appears that NBC On Demand is being pulled in markets across the United States that do not have a live NBC affiliate. Even more confusing it seems to be in most but not all markets. A handful of our reader say they still have NBC On Demand but most say they have lost access and some say they lost NBC on Demand over a week ago.
This likely points to some type of issues with local affiliates and Sony’s rights to have On Demand NBC in their markets. Sony has even removed the NBC On Demand logo from their website for markets that do not have a live NBC affiliate. (Note this does not affect PlayStation Vue subscribers that get a live feed of their local NBC affiliate.)
This may be tied to a recent announcement by Sony on plans to realine locals for subscribers. In emails Sony sent to PlayStation Vue subscribers announced that changes are coming to locals on PlayStation Vue:
“We are writing to let you know that on November 8, 2017, some local broadcast channels (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) may change to a different local version of the channel or may change to an ON Demand version of the channel. This happens as we align our geographic regions with each channel’s local area.” Sony said in an email to subscribers. “If your area transitions to an On Demand version of the channel, you will retain access to a wide variety of national programming from the channel, available in an On Demand format. Note that live sports do not play on On Demand versions of channels.”
It is possible that this move is part of their efforts to realign their local broadcast channels but to remove it from the website points to this being a deeper issue. We reached out to Sony for comment and at this time Sony has still not replied to our emails on this or about the November 8th, 2017 realignment of their locals.
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