Starz Joins the Streaming Service Party

The premium cable network Starz announced this week that it is launching a stand-alone streaming service via an app that allows subscribers to watch its programming on mobile devices. The service will be free to current subscribers to Starz' cable network, and it will be availale to everyone else for a monthly fee.

The service will offer streaming of Starz' library of content, but it will not offer live streaming of programs as they are airing on the cable network. Cost for the service will be $8.99 per month for subscribers who do not already have access to Starz through their cable package.

Starz CEO Chris Albrecht said that the service is aimed at "cord nevers, cord cutters and cord shavers," those TV viewers who are looking for alternatives to traditional cable TV. Starz, however, will be entering a market that is already flooded with stand-alone streaming services and that is getting more crowded every day.

The cord-cutting movement was originally intended as a cost-saving measure for viewers, but now programming is split among so many competing subscription services that keeping up with all of it is getting expensive. If you need Starz to watch Outlander, HBONow to watch Game of Thrones, Showtime Anytime to watch Homeland, CBS All Access to watch the new Star Trek series, and Warner Archive Instant to watch Logan's Run, all in addition to your Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu Plus subscriptions, your old cable bill might start to look like a bargain.