Starz Launches on iOS and Apple TV as Standalone Streaming Service for $8.99 Per Month

[MacRumors]

Paid-cable network Starz today announced a new standalone monthly streaming service that will be available to users as an app on iOS, Apple TV, and Google Play stores. Starz's entry into the standalone service market follows fellow networks HBO ($14.99/month) and Showtime ($10.99/month), but will come in at a cheaper price of $8.99/month.

The new Starz app can be authenticated as a companion to users who have traditional cable packages, but won't offer live streaming, unlike Showtime's service. The network did say that one unique feature will be that users can download full episodes of any show to watch offline. The Apple TV version of the Starz app will support the universal search function of the new Siri Remote, as well.

Starz CEO Chris Albrecht said, "Starz has entered the market today with an enormous value proposition for consumers. Our programing 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.

To celebrate its launch, the network will make the first episode of the second season of Outlander available on April 7 (two days before its official premiere) to any of the app's users. Starz said that the service will give subscribers access to more than 2,400 selections every month, including original programming like Outlander and the anticipated premiere of American Gods, as well as feature-length films like Avengers: Age of Ultron and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The Starz app is available to download today on the fourth-generation Apple TV and iOS App Store [Direct Link] for free.

Article Link: Starz Launches on iOS and Apple TV as Standalone Streaming Service for $8.99 Per Month

 

[godslabrat]

And yet another batch of content becomes available without a cable service.

Cable companies might be raking it in today, but they're doomed over the long haul.

 

[rictus007]

And yet another batch of content becomes available without a cable service.

Cable companies might be raking it in today, but they're doomed over the long haul.

Most of them benefit from the internet provider part; so they will continue afloat for few more years... I guess
[doublepost=1459866299][/doublepost]We are still missing an option to stream live sports independently (without prior cable or satellite subscription). Not a big fan of starz but in terms of available movies it might be a good complement to my Netflix subscription

 

[BJMRamage]

Most of them benefit from the internet provider part; so they will continue afloat for few more years... I guess

THIS...and they will raise the internet rates and start Data Capping.
The Cable Providers may start to feel the brunt but they knew what would happen and they will remain in their fancy homes, cars, and shoes.

 

[Northgrove]

As someone outside of US borders, this makes me a bit worried, but hopefully everything will be alright. I've been enjoying Black Sails on HBO Nordic and is looking forward to the next season, so let's hope they aren't doing this to pull their series from competing streaming services even abroad... Black Sails is surprisingly enough also available on Netflix outside of the US, but they lag at worst a full season behind.

 

[Richdmoore]

Most of them benefit from the internet provider part; so they will continue afloat for few more years... I guess
[doublepost=1459866299][/doublepost]We are still missing an option to stream live sports independently (without prior cable or satellite subscription). Not a big fan of starz but in terms of available movies it might be a good complement to my Netflix subscription

Best solution for sports right now is PlayStation vue, but I am waiting to see if other option develop (and they expand to out of home dvr and Apple TV apps.

 

[TonyC28]

$35 for three channels. Premium ones, I know. But this "a la carte" TV thing doesn't seem to be off to a promising start.

 

[oneMadRssn]

We are still missing an option to stream live sports independently (without prior cable or satellite subscription).

Depends which sport. MLB.tv and NHL.tv are good streaming services in terms of major sports. I haven't personally tried, but I see that MLS, PGA, and Tennis Channel also seem to have good streaming options. So there are lots of sports to stream live. Tons of NFL games can be watched without cable or satellite using a simple OTA antenna. So really the only odd man out is NBA.

 

[mbh1976]

Who on earth would pay $9/month for starz? maybe $9/year?

 

[bushido]

so expensive if u want Starz Showtime and HBO. i pay 34€ for the whole Sky HD package incl streaming on demand and a 2TB dvr

 

[TruthWatcher412]

Does Starz have an app for those who get it through their cable package?

 

[69Mustang]

A la carte supporters are going to slowly realize that getting what you want may not be the prize they think it is. Content owners are probably giddy. They will continue to get revenue from cable providers and revenue from cord cutters. Cable providers will get additional revenue from those exceeding their data caps. In a lot of cases the content provider and the cable company are the same entity.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. From a personal perspective, there's no advantage in a la carte. Four individuals with disparate tastes... my bill would be murderous trying to accommodate all those viewing habits. YMMV
[doublepost=1459868060][/doublepost]

Does Starz have an app for those who get it through their cable package?

Yep. Pretty much all premium channels have their own app. Most likely your cable company does as well.

 

[Kaibelf]

Does Starz have an app for those who get it through their cable package?

Just read on another site that it is a unified app that DOES let current cable users to access the content. The other interesting thing is, it lets you download content also, rather than only stream. I'm sure it's limited, but I don't think I've seen that before.

 

[iMember]

Starz only available in U.S, it's a start.. hope will be available in more places. Definitely gonna buy Apple TV now

Who on earth would pay $9/month for starz? maybe $9/year?

I would! And the same people who don't want to pay money for overpriced services like Netflix and HBO, after all Starz was the one started the mini-series trend like Marco Polo and Game Of Thrones

 

[godslabrat]

Most of them benefit from the internet provider part; so they will continue afloat for few more years... I guess

Sure, but most internet-only packages are less than $100, usually in the area of $50-$60 per month. The TV/Internet/Phone/Bling-Bling packages the cable companies WANT to sell are $200 or more, so even if the customers stay as internet-only, the cable companies are looking at their revenue dropping by half or more. Their margins aren't super great as it is, so that's a scary position to be in. Customers are already saying they don't want landline phones anymore, and now they're beginning to say the same about TV. Cable companies offer three services, two of which are rapidly becoming dinosaurs.

If cable companies want to weather the storm, they'll try to find ways to offer bare internet packages at a good margin.

 

[macduke]

Starz CEO Chris Albrecht said, "Starz has entered the market today with an enormous value proposition for consumers. Our programing 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.

I wasn't really considering this until I read that quote. This guy gets it. I'm practically a cord never. I actually only paid for it for a couple years before cutting it in 2010. We are undeserved and willing to pay for the content we want that can be watched when we want it from whatever device. I've been thinking about ditching Hulu with all their ads. This might fill the gap. I'll be looking into it for sure! I've been watching people who are quite a bit older than me cutting the cord as well. I hear my boss talking about it and how she gets charged $180/mo for their "triple play" package or whatever. As John Oliver said the other day, "Oh landline! Lucky me. That will come in handy when I need to call my cell phone when I can't find it, and that's about it!"

I'm hoping that as demand drops, they're going to keep raising rates on the few remaining, which will put them out of business. I'm so happy the tide is finally turning. Now if only I could pay for individual channels. Luckily there is a ton of quality entertaining content being developed on places like YouTube. I can get more fascinating, fun and engaging educational content from a few science-oriented YouTube channels than I ever could from the Discovery Channel. It's amazing the production value you can get with less than $1000 in gear these days. The biggest juggernaut will be sports.

 

[TruthWatcher412]

A la carte supporters are going to slowly realize that getting what you want may not be the prize they think it is. Content owners are probably giddy. They will continue to get revenue from cable providers and revenue from cord cutters. Cable providers will get additional revenue from those exceeding their data caps. In a lot of cases the content provider and the cable company are the same entity.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. From a personal perspective, there's no advantage in a la carte. Four individuals with disparate tastes... my bill would be murderous trying to accommodate all those viewing habits. YMMV
[doublepost=1459868060][/doublepost]
Yep. Pretty much all premium channels have their own app. Most likely your cable company does as well.

Thanks, I have Comcast *shudder* and know they have their TV app for X1 which is acidly pretty nice, just never looked for a Starz app before. I agree damned if you do and if you don't.

 

[rdlink]

THIS...and they will raise the internet rates and start Data Capping.
The Cable Providers may start to feel the brunt but they knew what would happen and they will remain in their fancy homes, cars, and shoes.

And this is why you need to start NOW getting up from in front of your Apple TV one night a month and attending your local city council meetings to tell them to get rid of franchising exclusivity for internet and TV providers. The only thing that is going to stop the cable providers from continuing to screw the consumers over is if there is competition.

And you can't wait until cable TV loses more and more subscribers, and the carriers start upping internet rates and capping data to mobilize. As you said, the cable providers know this is going to happen, so they're putting their ducks in a row right now. Only through grass roots efforts and making your opinion known are you going to kick those ducks over. Competition is king, and that is what the cable providers are going to fight against at every turn.

If you're old enough to remember think about the state of cable television before DISH Network and DirecTV started putting pressure on them. Very low channel selection, bad technology, ever increasing prices (I mean worse than we have now). But when the satellite providers put the pressure on them things changed fairly quickly for the cable providers.

I can even remember what things were like before DISH came along. DirecTV was nearly as bad as the cable companies. Their equipment was ridiculously expensive, and their programming was limited and expensive, too.

There are decisions you can make every day that will have an effect on the services that impact your daily life. For instance, I love baseball. I would gladly pay $130 a year for the MLB package, because it's a good value to me. Except for one thing: Local market games. I don't feel like I should have to subscribe to a $100 a month cable or satellite package to see my local baseball team play in a stadium that my tax dollars bought. So, until I can watch local market games I will not subscribe to MLB TV. It may make no difference to them in the end, but I am not going to use my own pocketbook to go against my interests. And if everyone would make conscious decisions like this the media companies would have to rethink their business models, and actually give the customers what they want.

 

[2457282]

A la carte supporters are going to slowly realize that getting what you want may not be the prize they think it is. Content owners are probably giddy. They will continue to get revenue from cable providers and revenue from cord cutters. Cable providers will get additional revenue from those exceeding their data caps. In a lot of cases the content provider and the cable company are the same entity.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. From a personal perspective, there's no advantage in a la carte. Four individuals with disparate tastes... my bill would be murderous trying to accommodate all those viewing habits.

It all depends on usage and price points. For people that want a ton of channels (like you it sounds), you point is well taken -- buying a la cart will be more expensive than buying as a bundle. However, if you are like me, i want very few channels. I am happy with Netflix, a news channel that includes live news, maybe the local channels, and of course I already have Apple Movies and TV shows. On my ATV4, I have Netflix and CBS News (the only one I am getting live news from right now). So for the $8 on top of my Internet service, I am a happy camper. If the locals would put their apps up for $1 or $2 per month, I would subscribe to 1 of them no problem. So you see, for me the a la cart is way better.

The real problem is getting a quality internet provider. I live in a historic building that offers only Comcrap. The quality is crap. If joe shmoe with two dixie cups and a string was allowed in the building I would switch. It is so bad that even working from home is a risk.

 

[npmacuser5]

They are on Amazon Subscription Streaming at this same pricing. Nice to see them branch out to other platforms. Two ways of looking at pricing, quantity and quality. I prefer the latter even if the costs maybe higher. The latter also, for me, has the added benefit of less couch potato time. I am finding that there are more options then just sitting and watching hour after hour. The Ala Carte is working nicely.

 

[rdlink]

A la carte supporters are going to slowly realize that getting what you want may not be the prize they think it is. Content owners are probably giddy. They will continue to get revenue from cable providers and revenue from cord cutters. Cable providers will get additional revenue from those exceeding their data caps. In a lot of cases the content provider and the cable company are the same entity.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. From a personal perspective, there's no advantage in a la carte. Four individuals with disparate tastes... my bill would be murderous trying to accommodate all those viewing habits. YMMV
[doublepost=1459868060][/doublepost]
Yep. Pretty much all premium channels have their own app. Most likely your cable company does as well.

You're right. YMMV. But I am paying about $35 a month for HBO Now, Hulu Plus and Netflix on my Apple TV. With Apple's family share I am able to watch all of the above at both my girlfriend's house and mine. We rent about three or four movies a month on iTunes, at about $5 apiece on average (I have a Barclay's iTunes card that gives me free iTunes gift cards that pretty much pay for those rentals). My old satellite bill was about $110 a month, without premium channels. I have TIVO DVRs connected to HD antennas at both houses, and neither of us has watched live or recorded broadcast television in months.

 

[jasonklee]

American Gods, woohoo!

 

[mattopotamus]

They are on Amazon Subscription Streaming at this same pricing. Nice to see them branch out to other platforms. Two ways of looking at pricing, quantity and quality. I prefer the latter even if the costs maybe higher. The latter also, for me, has the added benefit of less couch potato time. I am finding that there are more options then just sitting and watching hour after hour. The Ala Carte is working nicely.

Actually showtime through Amazon is $8.99 a month

 

[69Mustang]

It all depends on usage and price points. For people that want a ton of channels (like you it sounds), you point is well taken -- buying a la cart will be more expensive than buying as a bundle. However, if you are like me, i want very few channels. I am happy with Netflix, a news channel that includes live news, maybe the local channels, and of course I already have Apple Movies and TV shows. On my ATV4, I have Netflix and CBS News (the only one I am getting live news from right now). So for the $8 on top of my Internet service, I am a happy camper. If the locals would put their apps up for $1 or $2 per month, I would subscribe to 1 of them no problem. So you see, for me the a la cart is way better.

The real problem is getting a quality internet provider. I live in a historic building that offers only Comcrap. The quality is crap. If joe shmoe with two dixie cups and a string was allowed in the building I would switch. It is so bad that even working from home is a risk.

That's why I made sure to put YMMV. Your mileage may vary. Families, especially with tweens/teens are going to have varied viewing habits. Individuals are going to have singular habits, and there will be varying degrees of "need" in between.

A la carte in your situation is a better choice. The rub will always be showing value to the providers, both bandwidth and content. To date, I've yet to see one a la carte supporter express how they bring that value.

 

[rdlink]

I wasn't really considering this until I read that quote. This guy gets it. I'm practically a cord never. I actually only paid for it for a couple years before cutting it in 2010. We are undeserved and willing to pay for the content we want that can be watched when we want it from whatever device. I've been thinking about ditching Hulu with all their ads. This might fill the gap. I'll be looking into it for sure! I've been watching people who are quite a bit older than me cutting the cord as well. I hear my boss talking about it and how she gets charged $180/mo for their "triple play" package or whatever. As John Oliver said the other day, "Oh landline! Lucky me. That will come in handy when I need to call my cell phone when I can't find it, and that's about it!"

I'm hoping that as demand drops, they're going to keep raising rates on the few remaining, which will put them out of business. I'm so happy the tide is finally turning. Now if only I could pay for individual channels. Luckily there is a ton of quality entertaining content being developed on places like YouTube. I can get more fascinating, fun and engaging educational content from a few science-oriented YouTube channels than I ever could from the Discovery Channel. It's amazing the production value you can get with less than $1000 in gear these days. The biggest juggernaut will be sports.

Don't be so hard on yourself. You're not undeserved.