Cable network Epix announces offline viewing on its mobile apps for subscribers, available later this month
Todd Spangler / Variety :
Context & Ripple Effects
The offline-viewing announcement lands two weeks after Epix's biggest distribution reshuffle of the year: a multi-year Hulu deal that replaces its expiring Netflix agreement. Losing Netflix shelf space means the channel's own apps have to carry more of the retention burden, and download-to-go is the feature premium-cable subscribers increasingly expect.
It also puts Epix ahead of its closest rival on this specific feature — Showtime didn't extend offline viewing across its entire mobile library until its full-library rollout in April 2017 — while Comcast's Watchable and Verizon's Go90 were both building mobile-first video services in the same window.
First-order effects
- Subscribers on Epix's iOS and Android apps can download content for offline playback starting later this month, making the channel's own apps usable in the no-connectivity moments where they previously lost out to Netflix and Showtime apps.
Second-order effects
- With its content leaving Netflix in September, Epix now leans on Hulu plus its own apps for reach — raising the bar for rivals like Showtime to match download features, which it ultimately did with its 2017 full-library offline rollout.
Third-order effects
- If premium cable channels keep bolting direct-to-consumer features onto their apps after losing third-party SVOD shelf space, the endpoint is standalone streaming products — the path Epix itself took when MGM launched the $5.99/month Epix Now service in 2019.
The trend: Premium cable networks are responding to losing Netflix distribution by upgrading their own apps into direct-to-consumer streaming products, with Epix Now as the eventual template.