In October, Starz announced its Starz Play and Encore Play online services, which would provide online streaming access to movies and shows to paying subscribes off the premium channels. Today, Starz announced that it has launched the services for DirecTV customers.
Customers who subscribe to the channels can use the Starz Play and Encore Play apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The apps themselves are free. There are also web interfaces for the offerings at starzplay.com and encoreplay.com.
“We are very pleased to expand our relationship with DirecTVand add Starz Play and Encore Play to the suite of premium offerings provided by one of our largest customers,” said Ed Huguez , President of Affiliate Distribution for Starz Entertainment. “Starz and Encore subscription performance on DirecTV is consistently strong with a loyal customer base. Now our subscribers on DirecTV – ranging from tech savvy to novices – are sure to enjoy the added benefit of a terrific user-experience of the Play services as part of their monthly subscriptions.”
Starz Play offers users about 400 monthly selections, including 300 movies from Disney, Sony and others. There are also 100 episodes of Starz exclusives like Spartacus, Magic City and Boss. Encore Play offers about 900 monthly selections, including 300 movies and “select originals”.
The services come with resume functionality, so you can start watching something and pick it up where you left off later. There are also parental controls.