AT&T's DirecTV service plans a nationwide streaming offering, but details on prices and channels haven't been released.
Published reports have also said that Apple is trying to develop its own streaming-TV service.
Vue's cheaper offering, made available in more markets than before, could make Vue a more significant challenger to traditional TV services from cable and satellite.
'But nobody really knows how big the opportunity will be,' said Craig Moffett, a MoffettNathanson analyst who follows the cable industry.
Moffett said viewers typically like the idea of slimmer, cheaper TV packages when they don't have time to watch 500-plus channels, but 'everyone's ideal skinny bundle is a little different.'
As a result, he said, these slimmer packages still end up too expensive for many people, or are missing someone's favorite channel or two.
On-demand services such as Netflix and Hulu have become popular but lack the live network shows that have been available up to now only with a cable or satellite subscription.
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A PlayStation or an Amazon Fire TV device is needed to sign up for Vue.
Vue's exclusion of over-the-air channels in the new regions reflects how television networks distribute their programs in the U.S.
Networks own stations only in major cities, and their programs are carried elsewhere in the country by affiliate stations owned by other companies.
Because of that, Sony doesn't automatically have rights to include those stations and has limited the Vue service to major markets with network-owned channels.
Traditional cable companies have had time to negotiate deals with affiliates elsewhere.
Sony will now try to bypass that limitation by offering just the cable channels live — more than 50 in the starting package.
Programs from ABC, Fox, NBC and Telemundo will be available the following day, similar to the way Hulu works.
CBS shows are coming to some markets only at an unspecified date.
PlayStation Vue, a cloud-based TV service, will initially be available in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia to customers with the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 game consoles, and later to customers with Apple iPads.)
The CW isn't currently offered in any of Vue's packages.
Vue customers would still be able to get local stations with an antenna.
Sling TV also lacks over-the-air channels in its starting package of 23 channels. But it doesn't include next-day access to network shows, either.
TV packages for Vue's existing markets won't change.
They start at $40 and include the local stations.
The broadcast-free, $30 option will be limited to markets outside the initial seven — Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco, as well as their suburbs.
Sony hasn't revealed how many subscribers it has, but Moffett believes it is still tiny, given the service's limited reach until now.
Moffett has estimated that Sling TV has about half a million customers.
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