Tag Archives: sne

Sony pursues cord cutters with over-the-top TV service

After months of beta testing, Sony (SNE) on Wednesday launched its PlayStation Vue television service, which aims to compete with cable and other pay TV offerings. PlayStation Vue offers a starting package of 50 channels for $50 a month, but you must own a Sony PS3 or PS4 game console and have broadband Internet service to receive it. Initially it will be available only in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia. Sony introduced the service in November calling it a “pioneering new cloud-based TV service that reinvents the television experience.” The company also is offering two higher-priced tiers of Vue that include more channels for $60 and $70 a month. PlayStation Vue follows the nationwide launch of Sling TV from Dish Network (DISH), another over-the-top Internet pay TV service. Sling TV offers a starting package of 20 channels for $20 a month and is available using Roku and Amazon.com (AMZN) streaming…

Netflix Won’t Be ‘Friends’ With ‘Seinfeld’ Reruns

Netflix (NFLX) looks like it will pass up a chance to stream “Seinfeld” reruns as Sony reportedly closes in on a deal that could involve rivals Amazon, Yahoo and Hulu. Sony’s (SNE) television unit is in “advanced talks” and expects to sell streaming rights to Seinfeld reruns in the next few weeks, sources told the Wall Street Journal. While Netflix last year bought the rights to another 1990s sitcom, “Friends,” and paid an estimated $500,000 per

Nintendo’s Zelda works magic on video game sales

After declining four straight months, sales of new video game products at U.S. retail returned to growth in February. Sales of video game hardware, software and accessories rose 8% year over year to $956 million last month, the NPD Group reported late Thursday. The industry segment was helped by strong sales of the latest generation living-room consoles from Microsoft (MSFT) and Sony (SNE). Portable game players from Nintendo (NTDOY) also gave a boost. Game hardware sales rose 10% to $378 million. Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 saw sustained momentum in February. After 15 months on the market, Xbox One and PS4 have outsold their predecessors, the Xbox 360 and PS3, by close to 60% in terms of units, NPD analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement. Nintendo’s 3DS handheld device got a boost from the release of “The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask 3D,” an exclusive first-party title…