Starz arrives on iOS, Apple TV as standalone service with $8.99 price tag

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in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV
No longer will fans of "Ash vs. Evil Dead" be forced to keep a cable subscription or pony up to purchase full seasons, as premium content network Starz has become the latest company to join the on-demand content fray.




The Starz offering also includes sister networks Starz Encore and Movieplex, bringing more content in addition to the network's stable of in-house shows like Outlander. The $8.99 monthly fee slightly undercuts competitors including HBO and Showtime, though it's not clear whether consumers in this market are price conscious or are simply looking for the best content.

"Starz has entered the market today with an enormous value proposition for consumers," company CEO Chris Albrecht said in a release. "Our programing [sic] will now be more widely available to the 20 million broadband only homes of cord nevers, cord cutters and cord shavers, including Millennials and other underserved consumers who need other viable subscription service options."

Consumers who already pay for Starz through their cable or satellite provider can authenticate that subscription in the app to access its on-demand features without an additional fee.

Like HBO and Showtime, which arrived on the Apple TV late last year, Starz will debut with support for Siri universal search. Fourth-generation Apple TV owners in supported countries will see Starz results alongside those of iTunes and other subscription services.

At press time, the Starz app was still in the process of rolling out but will be available on the iOS and Apple TV App Stores today.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 16
    snovasnova Posts: 1,281member
    I'm like all the leap frogging in pricing. competition is good.  Keep it coming. I hope HBO and Showtime respond. 
    edited April 2016
  • Reply 2 of 16
    supadav03supadav03 Posts: 503member
    Commented on this earlier in another thread but i think a big feature is allowing you to download and watch movies/shows offline. Amazon is really the only other streaming content provider who is allowing this.
  • Reply 3 of 16
    djames4242djames4242 Posts: 651member
    This is great! Each time Comcast has screwed me on pricing (which they do far too often) they offer me 3-6 months of Starz as part of their compensation. There's a huge amount of great movies available on-demand. I'd thought about adding a subscription on through Amazon, but the lack of Amazon Video on the AppleTV has been one thing holding me back.

    I may just go for it now!
  • Reply 4 of 16
    How good is Starz? How big is their movie catalog? I would love to ditch our Netflix DVD plan, if I could get a comparable streaming selection of movies elsewhere.

    Right now, however, Netflix appears to be the only game in town, if you want to be able to watch more obscure movies. Rarely have we found Netflix to not carry the DVD of a movie we wanted to watch.
  • Reply 5 of 16
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    It would have been better if they allowed live streaming in addition, then if somebody was switching from cable to the app, they would still have what they had before.
  • Reply 6 of 16
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    Right now, however, Netflix appears to be the only game in town, if you want to be able to watch more obscure movies. Rarely have we found Netflix to not carry the DVD of a movie we wanted to watch.
    Amazon Prime also has a lot of content and is pretty similar to Netflix. I have both.
  • Reply 7 of 16
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    How good is Starz? How big is their movie catalog? I would love to ditch our Netflix DVD plan, if I could get a comparable streaming selection of movies elsewhere.

    Right now, however, Netflix appears to be the only game in town, if you want to be able to watch more obscure movies. Rarely have we found Netflix to not carry the DVD of a movie we wanted to watch.
    They're known more for their original programs. Black Sails is pretty good. 
  • Reply 8 of 16
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    sog35 said:
    apple ][ said:
    Amazon Prime also has a lot of content and is pretty similar to Netflix. I have both.
    Amazon Prime has was less quality content than Netflix. I have both.
    I find that having both is a good combination, because sometimes I find things on Amazon that are not available on Netflix, and vice versa of course.
  • Reply 9 of 16
    There is still no streaming service that has a comprehensive catalog of TV shows and movies, is there? I suppose, iTunes is pretty good, but I don’t know how they fare with older movies.
  • Reply 10 of 16
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    sog35 said:
    apple ][ said:
    I find that having both is a good combination, because sometimes I find things on Amazon that are not available on Netflix, and vice versa of course.
    true. but if I had to pick one I'd pick Netflix for sure. Just way more quality stuff overa
    I agree.

    I've had Netflix since it began, and I've only had Amazon Prime for a few months, mostly because I got a cheap price on the yearly subscription, and also because of the free shipping.

    But if it came down to choosing only one, based on which has most/better streaming content, then yeah, Netflix wins out.

    Speaking of Netflix, I downloaded an app called smartflix a while back, and that gives somebody access to Netflix worldwide, all on the same interface. There was plenty of content there that was not available on US Netflix.


    edited April 2016
  • Reply 11 of 16
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    How good is Starz? How big is their movie catalog? I would love to ditch our Netflix DVD plan, if I could get a comparable streaming selection of movies elsewhere.

    Right now, however, Netflix appears to be the only game in town, if you want to be able to watch more obscure movies. Rarely have we found Netflix to not carry the DVD of a movie we wanted to watch.
    Starz has some good original programming. I highly recommend Black Sails. Season 3 just finished and that was an incredible season. The Spartacus series is pretty good too. 
  • Reply 12 of 16
    redefilerredefiler Posts: 323member
    Yesterday with the Starz app you could sign in with Comcast Xfinity, and now that capability is missing from the new all in one...

    So much for watching the rest of this season's Black Sails.  
  • Reply 13 of 16
    boltsfan17boltsfan17 Posts: 2,294member
    redefiler said:
    Yesterday with the Starz app you could sign in with Comcast Xfinity, and now that capability is missing from the new all in one...

    So much for watching the rest of this season's Black Sails.  
    I used to do that until the TV show companies started catching on. Starz must have been one of the last ones left where you could just log in with your Comcast internet account and watch all the content. 
  • Reply 14 of 16
    redefilerredefiler Posts: 323member
    redefiler said:
    Yesterday with the Starz app you could sign in with Comcast Xfinity, and now that capability is missing from the new all in one...

    So much for watching the rest of this season's Black Sails.  
    I used to do that until the TV show companies started catching on. Starz must have been one of the last ones left where you could just log in with your Comcast internet account and watch all the content. 
    Not really about anyone 'catching on', they've just specifically dropped Concast Xfinity as a login option, all other major cable providers are still listed.  

    Yesterday the Starz Play and Starz Encore apps  worked with my cable co login, now it doesn't with the new one.  Also these apps no longer load, and nag to update to the new, broken all in one.
  • Reply 15 of 16
    wood1208wood1208 Posts: 2,905member
    Hey, you Dishnetwork SLING, Amazon Instant video, Comcast Xfinity, TWC anywhere, Spotify. where are you putting your native app on Apple-TV ?
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