‘A penny-pinching brand’: Sony is removing key features from its Bravia smart TVs, and users are seriously unhappy
- Sony is discontinuing several features for its customers
- The changes affect antenna and set-top box users
- Menus and program information will be removed for affected users
Do you get your TV fix using an antenna or a set-top box? If so, you make up a sizable proportion of the viewing public — but if you’ve got a Sony Bravia TV in your home, you could be about to lose a key feature from your device.
As noted by Cord Cutters News, a support page on the Sony website now warns customers that the company will be altering its service in “late May 2026,” and not in a good way.
Specifically, the page explains that at that time, antenna users will get a greatly reduced experience. “Program information may not appear depending on the channel,” Sony says, and “Only programs from recently watched channels may be shown.” Channel logos won’t be displayed in the program guide, and thumbnail images in program descriptions will also no longer be available.
Article continues below
Unwelcome changes are coming to the TV menu, too. The Set Top Box menu will be removed entirely, to be replaced by a simplified Control menu. As well as that, thumbnails won’t appear in the TV menu.
Affected TV models include the A95L series from 2023, the Bravia 9 (XR90), Bravia 8 (XR80) and Bravia 7 (XR70) from 2024, and the Bravia 8 II (XR80M2) and Bravia 5 (XR50) from 2025. That could be frustrating news for loyal Sony customers — the Bravia 8 II, for example, was only released last year and cost upwards of $3,499 / £2,999 / AU$4,999 at launch. Losing features from such a recent (and pricey) device is hardly welcome news.
A ‘penny-pinching’ move
Sony hasn’t given an explicit reason for the move, but it’s likely to do with the backend costs of providing program details and images to users. For Sony, continuing to deliver these to antenna and set-top box customers might not be worth it.
But these users probably make up a sizeable proportion of Sony’s base. Ars Technica cited a survey from 2025 that suggested that 19% of 2,200 US adults polled used an antenna with their TV. A second survey referred to by Ars Technica found that of 1,600 US TV viewers who were aged between 16 and 74 and had broadband access, 26% said that a set-top box was their “default device for watching TV.”
Unsurprisingly, Sony customers were not thrilled to hear about the changes. On Reddit, user NewsCards said the move risked Sony gaining a reputation as “a penny-pinching brand willing to take away established features that 19% of their customers use, just to save a few bucks.” User tuppertom chimed in by adding: “Looks like I can stroke Sony off of my shopping list.”
If you find yourself in the cohort of affected customers, you’ll need to prepare for reduced functionality come late May. Either that, or you might consider switching to a different TV model — something we can help with thanks to our round-up of the best TVs on the market.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
