As the TV industry starts to embrace the internet and put more and more content on streaming sites like Hulu, the more technologically inclined (read: people who like convenience) are hoping that other players in the media industry will make their content available in the same way. So I’m excited that there’s a company that’s essentially trying to take the HBO model and give it the Hulu treatment.
EpixHD’s scheme is a simple one: users pay a monthly subscription fee, and by doing so they can go to the Epix site and stream one of many high quality movies on-demand And when I say high quality, I mean 720p and stereo sound, which blows other services out of the water when it comes to quality. The service will allow users to have access to a level of content on par with a premium cable channel, but we’ll be able to stream whatever we want.
At launch, Epix will have the backing of Viacom, Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM, so there’s going to be a lot of content to peruse as soon as the site opens its doors. But whether or not Epix can turn a profit is yet to be seen. In addition to competing with HBO and Cinemax, Epix is going to be in close competition with Netflix, which is perhaps the biggest company in the streaming game right now. At that, both Epix and Netflix currently hold a bit of an advantage over the other: Epix is more likely to get movies as soon as they come out (assuming we’re talking about movies owned by partner companies), while Netflix has a big glut of back content, not to mention television shows.
No real battle between the major online streaming services has really yet happened, and my hope is that we’ll see some competition when Epix launches. Though Hulu and Netflix Instant are nice starts, we still haven’t seen the streaming sites receive the flood of content that we all want. But when companies compete, business tends to move more quickly.
