News Feature 

There has been much written about DIRECTV Now’s failure to meet its first quarter deadline for being available on Roku’s streaming devices.

Roku Premiere Streaming Media Player
Click Amazon: Roku Premiere: Just $69.

However, lost in the Roku discussion is that the live streaming service is also not on the XBox or the Play Station more than four months after its November 30 launch.

The omissions are glaring considering that the two gaming consoles reach scores of millions of people. But what’s even more interesting is that while AT&T, which owns DIRECTV Now, has publicly made a firm commitment to Roku, it has offered no such pledge to the XBox or PlayStation.


Click Amazon: Get the Hottest Deals In Beauty & Men’s Care.

In fact, at the DIRECTV Now Help section, the live streamer only acknowledges that it’s not available yet on Roku or the XBox; and it doesn’t even list the PlayStation as a device under the ‘Not Yet Available’ category.

It’s as if the PlayStation doesn’t exist in the minds of the people who run DIRECTV Now. (Sony, which owns the PlayStation, also owns the DIRECTV Now streaming rival, Vue, which could be a factor here.)

Click Amazon: Today’s ‘1-Day-Only’ Deals!

DIRECTV Now is available on the Apple TV, the Amazon Fire TV suite of streaming devices, and other platforms such as smart phones and tablets. But until the service is available on all the major devices in the streaming category, it will struggle to reach a mass audience.

— Phillip Swann