Sony will remove some features from its latest Bravia smart TVs next month, which will affect people using an antenna or set-top box.
People using an antenna with affected TV models “from late May 2026” will see a reduced TV guide. support page noted by Cord Cutters News. The support page states that “program information may not appear depending on the channel” and “only programs recently viewed channels can be displayed for channels transmitted through the antenna.
Users will no longer see channel logos or thumbnail images in program descriptions for over-the-air TV channels.
Sony is also removing the dedicated menu for set-top box users and replacing it with a ‘control menu’. This should mean a less crowded menu, but it’s also expected to mean fewer features for set-top box users.
Finally, the TV menu on affected models will not display smaller images for programs. This means that the TV guide integrated into the Google TV operating system (OS) will no longer include preview images that may be useful for identifying shows and movies that show aggregated content for content available through antennas, free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels, and some other live streaming services.
Sony says the changes will affect the following TVs:
- 2025 models: Bravia 8 II (XR80M2), Bravia 5 (XR50)
- 2024 models: Bravia 9 (XR90), Bravia 8 (XR80), Bravia 7 (XR70)
- 2023 models: Bravia A95L series
Sony’s support page says: “We appreciate your understanding and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Reduced functionality
Sony did not explain why it removed these features. Ars Technica reached out but did not respond before publication. We’ll update the story if we hear back.
Perhaps Sony wants to reallocate resources to more commonly used features. The use of antennas and set-top boxes has been greatly reduced in favor of on-demand broadcasting. Both types of equipment still have dedicated users. 19 percent of respondents to a survey of 2,200 US adults in 2025 The Horowitz Study said they use an antenna. In a 2024 survey of 1,600 U.S. TV viewers aged 16-74 with broadband access by Hub Entertainment Research, 26 percent of respondents said a set-top is their “default device for watching TV.”
