Plex Launches Free, Ad-Supported Movie/TV Streaming Service with Thousands of Titles

[Tsing]

Ready for another streaming service? Plex, the company behind one of the world's most popular media applications, has announced that its ad-supported VOD library is now available to stream for free, with or without a Plex Pass. The catalog comprises titles from some of the biggest studios, such as Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Lionsgate, and Legendary.

“Plex was born out of a passion for media and entertainment, and offering free ad-supported premium movies and TV shows is just the latest step in our mission to bring all your favorite content together in one place,” said Keith Valory, CEO of Plex. “What started more than a decade ago as a passion project to make accessing media on connected devices easier has evolved into the most comprehensive streaming platform in the industry, used by millions of people around the world.”

 

[_k_]

Sweet another place to watch Rain Man, Overboard, and Teen Wolf. Their launch offerings look like the standard mid-tier agreement offerings. Plex over the years has only gotten more expensive.

 

[Riccochet]

You don't have to pay for Plex. Server or Player's. So, I'm not sure what you are talking about.

It's not a service unless you pay for PlexPass. Even then that just adds features, not content.

 

[kin]

I've been using Plex for free for years. Works much better than serviio or VLC with the apple tv 4th gen and 4k. No idea if this streaming service will go anywhere but I like their software.

 

[Dogsofjune]

Sweet another place to watch Rain Man, Overboard, and Teen Wolf. Their launch offerings look like the standard mid-tier agreement offerings. Plex over the years has only gotten more expensive.

Though I agree with your summation of probable content that will be made available, I don't understand the cost comment. It's $6.99 for PlexPass but free to use it without those added features.

 

[_k_]

Though I agree with your summation of probable content that will be made available, I don't understand the cost comment. It's $6.99 for PlexPass but free to use it without those added features.

Has to do with the slow increase in cost for their paid features over the years with the more recent move to drop support of certain features like plugins. Just this year they pulled support of the front end of the server meaning they do not want to support the HTPC segment, forcing those users into Roku type products that have an app for Plex

For a company that was targeted at hobbiest and power users they have made several moves that alienate their original base. That base is a big part of the reason the tech communities all know about Plex but a huge segment of the gen pop have no idea what it is or any interest in the company/product.

The comment is much more about a company that appears to be trending a certain direction.

 

[SmokeRngs]

Has to do with the slow increase in cost for their paid features over the years with the more recent move to drop support of certain features like plugins. Just this year they pulled support of the front end of the server meaning they do not want to support the HTPC segment, forcing those users into Roku type products that have an app for Plex

For a company that was targeted at hobbiest and power users they have made several moves that alienate their original base. That base is a big part of the reason the tech communities all know about Plex but a huge segment of the gen pop have no idea what it is or any interest in the company/product.

The comment is much more about a company that appears to be trending a certain direction.

I don't think it's about forcing people into getting something like a Roku. It's more likely it wasn't worth the development and support resources to keep up with it since so many had already started using Rokus and the like. The Roku plugin for Plex is surprisingly good and I have it setup on all the Rokus here and it was very easy to do so.

While I haven't been a heavy user of Plex for a long time by any means I have seen where they've been cutting stuff out. In some cases features have been moved from the free service to the pay service which I'm not the happiest about so I'm not defending them; just giving a valid reason for some changes.