Last week PlayStation Vue lost access to Sinclair owned ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC locals. Now Sony has announced plans to launch a live Fox freed in markets where they no longer have a local Fox affiliate.
“We are always evaluating the PS Vue service to ensure we are offering a compelling value to our customers and focusing on channels that resonate,” told Polygon in a statement. The spokesperson when on to tell Polygon that Sony is launching a new live feed from Fox “in the coming weeks” that is intended to “replace the local affiliate feeds in the affected markets.”
This new national Fox feed will offer prime-time programming from Fox broadcast network and additional content from Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Sports 1, and Fox Soccer Plus. What you won’t get is all the local programming your local station offers. No local news, talk shows, etc will be apart of this fox feed.
The question now is what will move like this from Fox do to their relationship with partners like Sinclair. Will see soon see national feeds of Fox programming anytime there is a contract dispute between local affiliates and cable networks? This will significantly weaken the power of local affiliates have over pay-TV services.
Here is the statement from Sinclair on them pulling their stations from Sony’s PlayStation Vue service:
“We regret Sony was not willing to meet certain requirements for carrying our stations,” stated Barry Faber, Sinclair’s EVP Network Relations & Distribution in a statement on Sinclairs website. “We remind Sony subscribers that there are other video distributor options available to receive our broadcast stations’ programming, including Sony’s direct competitor YouTube TV, which continues to carry stations that Sony has dropped. Fortunately, subscribers to PlayStation Vue can terminate their subscriptions with ease and without termination fees.”
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