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It’s getting mighty crowded in the premium “video on demand” space. It feels like everyone and his brother wants to offer you movies to watch whenever you want – but there’s always a catch. Epix is an online service created as a joint venture by Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM. Epix features recent titles from the three studios in high definition before they’re released on DVD or Blu-ray, but only if you subscribe to a cable service that offers it. As I wrote last June, Epix needed to convince cable TV operators to bundle the service into an already-existing package and thus avoid a separate, additional monthly fee for the consumer.
Since then, Verizon’s FiOS and Cox Communications signed on the dotted line, and now Mashable reports that Mediacom Communications, the seventh-largest cable TV provider in the U.S., will become an additional outlet in April. The big boys in cable – Comcast and Time Warner Cable – are still missing, however, and the idea to make it free to the consumer hasn’t panned out so far. Verizon offers it as a premium channel for $9.99 per month. Like Mediacom, Cox will begin offering the service until April, so we’ll have to wait to see if it’s priced as a separate premium channel or bundled as part of a package
When I checked this morning, the newest offerings at Epix are My Bloody Valentine, The Pink Panther 2, New in Town, Defiance, and The Babysitter. Epix has a solid library and also has plans to offer a new dramatic series called Tough Trade with Sam Shepherd.
Does anyone currently subscribe to Epix? Do you like it? Is it worth the 10 bucks a month?