Sonos reportedly cancels its streaming video player, but I hope it resurrects one part of it, because it could be huge

close-up of soundbar mesh with Sonos branding

(Image credit: Future)

It's been known for some time that Sonos has been working on a streaming video device that was aimed to launch in 2025, with major leaks revealing what it would entail.

Now, after Sonos' previous CEO left as a result of the company's horrible 2024, Sonos has a new CEO that's changing a lot of things within the company – and according to The Verge, this has led to the cancellation of the streaming video box launch. The Verge has proven to have very accurate Sonos information over the years, so this is almost certainly correct.

Now, given that I called this box "doomed" based on the details we initially heard – specifically, that it would have ads-based software, yet would cost up to $400 – I can't say that I reacted with much surprise to seeing this news… but actually, I really hope this project isn't fully dead, because one half of it sounded amazing.

A simpler box, that's more price competitive?

I already wrote an essay about why this flexibility could've made the Sonos box a big hit with home theater enthusiasts, so I won't go too deep into it right now.

But let me lay out what I'd like to see because I think there's something that could be a really big hit here. What if Sonos could still release a connection box? It just wouldn't include the smart TV part, meaning it needs far less powerful processing.

It would still include the HDMI passthrough and switching functionality, and wireless connectivity to Sonos speakers – perhaps it costs around $200. That's not cheap, but as part of the right speaker system, it could easily be worthwhile.

Let's compare this to the Sony Bravia Theater Quad, which costs $2,500. That's a one-box system that includes four surround speakers and a wireless connector for your TV. Each speaker has forward and upward firing drivers.

Sony Bravia Theater Quad speaker system with Bravia 8 OLED TV — The Bravia Quad's four wireless speakers. This could be Sonos, but it's playin'. (Image credit: Future)

The Sonos equivalent to this would be my hypothetical wireless TV connection box, plus four Sonos Era 300 speakers. Like the Sony, this would provide both surround and upfiring drivers – but the cost for this set would be, at the time of writing, $1,906. That's $200 for my box that I invented and $853 per pair of Sonos Era 300 speakers.

We could add in a Sonos Ray for $179 as a center channel (something the Sony system sorely lacks unless it's connected to a Sony TV), and still spend way less than the Sony option costs – you could add a subwoofer too, in that case, if you want.

This kind of speaker setup, with genuine satellite forward left and right speakers, isn't possible officially with a Sonos setup right now – a box that enables it could be a great deal compared to most other wireless home theater setups, even if it appears to be expensive to buy on its own at first blush.

So what I'm really hoping is that Sonos is planning to kill off the smart TV software side of things that no one really wanted but keeps a smaller, leaner, meaner version of its TV box.

I've written before that if Sonos doesn't have some kind of tech for wireless connections to TVs coming, it's going to have a real problem long-term, because that's absolutely going to become more mainstream in the next couple of years.

This would solve that problem and enable even better options that fans have been crying out for – it's the kind of thing that could put Sonos back in fans' good graces. Let's see if it happens…

See more Television News

TOPICS

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, meaning he's in charge of persuading our team of writers and reviewers to watch the latest TV shows and movies on gorgeous TVs and listen to fantastic speakers and headphones. It's a tough task, as you can imagine. Matt has over a decade of experience in tech publishing, and previously ran the TV & audio coverage for our colleagues at T3.com, and before that he edited T3 magazine. During his career, he's also contributed to places as varied as Creative Bloq, PC Gamer, PetsRadar, MacLife, and Edge. TV and movie nerdism is his speciality, and he goes to the cinema three times a week. He's always happy to explain the virtues of Dolby Vision over a drink, but he might need to use props, like he's explaining the offside rule.