Starz launches standalone streaming service with apps for Android and iOS at $9/month, less than Showtime's $11/month offering
Emily Steel / New York Times :
Context & Ripple Effects
Starz is following the path Showtime cleared last year, when Showtime's standalone service arrived on Roku and PlayStation Vue and Hulu began selling Showtime online for $9, absorbing the discount itself. Starz now ships its own Android and iOS apps at $9 a month — two dollars under Showtime's $11 list price — making direct-to-consumer pricing the new competitive front between premium channels.
The timing matters: Fullscreen launches a $5-per-month service a week from now, so Starz is staking out a mid-tier position between budget services and Showtime rather than matching its rival dollar-for-dollar.
First-order effects
- Cord-cutters gain a second premium-channel app they can buy without a cable subscription, and Showtime's $11 price point is immediately undercut by $2 across Android and iOS.
Second-order effects
- Distribution platforms become the next battleground: Hulu already paid out of pocket to hold Showtime at $9, and third-party storefronts will face pressure to match or beat Starz's own-app price to stay relevant as intermediaries.
- Showtime must decide whether to defend $11 on brand strength or follow the discounting pattern Hulu set, risking margin either way.
Third-order effects
- If premium channels keep unbundling at converging sub-$11 prices, the durable structure is a shelf of individually priced channel apps — the setup that later let Apple standardize HBO, Showtime, and Starz subscriptions at $9.99 each — with aggregators, not networks, controlling the bundle.
The trend: Premium cable networks are dismantling their own bundle, going direct-to-consumer one app at a time and competing on monthly price rather than carriage deals.