Virtual MVPD’s $50-a-month base price now matches DirecTV Now, YouTube TV

After more than four years in the market, Sony’s PlayStation Vue virtual MVPD has come full circle.

Sony notified customers Monday that it will soon raise monthly pricing on its virtual multichannel video programming distributor (MVPD), PlayStation Vue, by $5 across the board. The Vue base tier will now run $50 a month, which is on par with rivals DirecTV Now and YouTube TV.

Notably, the vMVPD was initially base-priced at $50 a month when it debuted back in 2015. That was before DirecTV Now hit the market with a what turned out to be an unsustainable $35-a-month model.

“With costs rising each year for content, we constantly evaluate each deal to ensure we continue to deliver the content you want while considering the overall value of each package,” Sony said in its statement. “After reviewing this, we have made the decision to raise the price of all of our multichannel plans by $5.”

Sony hasn’t released subscriber numbers for Vue, but it’s generally understood that the platform has fewer users than Sling TV, DirecTV Now, Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV. 

Notably, PlayStation Vue, DirecTV Now and YouTube TV all find themselves undercut by Hulu with Live TV, which not only is priced slightly cheaper at $45 a month, but also mixes in access to Hulu's SVOD service.