As the diversity of platforms began to seriously destabilize agendas and portfolios, SkyShowtime, a streaming service from Comcast and Paramount, came along to further complicate the plot. Shall we add it to the domestic budget without looking back? Or is it time to rethink your Apple TV+ subscription now that the return of ‘Ted Lasso’ is imminent? Which of these services best suits our particular interests? What will keep us from staying out of the most heated conversations at the coffee machine?
At such a time (a certain slump, say ordinary people and growth, say optimistic rulers), it is imperative to paint a panoramic view to understand what the ‘flow’ showcase, that labyrinth of perpetual fluctuation, offers us; unfortunately, as of March 30 we will no longer have to consider whether to add Lionsgate+, formerly Starzplay, which will cease operations in Spain.
For those who do not know how to use the budget they have earned, here is a Guide to the main temptations, starting with the almost universal Netflix, followed by Prime Video, a classic like HBO (Max) or a local pride like Film. What each is about, for whom, and how much it might cost. Everything for everyone and at all prices. Many different ways to follow the topic the most influential and important popular culture of these moments.
1.Netflix
Pioneering platform is as synonymous with ‘release’ as Danone is synonymous with yogurt. The combination of (usually) quality, variety, competitive pricing, and ease of use is pretty much unbeatable. It lost quite a few classic franchises due to the emergence of new competitors looking to reclaim their credit, but it hasn’t stopped making up for it with surprise events by producing new references from ‘Stranger Things’ to ‘The Bridgertons’. Like “Squid Game” and “Wednesday”.
For whom: This huge arcade is basically for everyone. Fan, “The ground is lava!” Something as creative as Nicolas Winding Refn’s latest drama ‘Copenhagen Cowboy’.
What is the price: Advertising base, € 5.49 per month; Basic, € 7.99 per month; Standard (two devices, Full HD), €12.99 per month (or €18.98 with one extra subscriber allowed); Premium (4 devices, Ultra HD), €17.99 per month (or €23.98 and €29.97 respectively if one and two extra subscribers are added)
2. Amazon Prime Video
In April 2013, two months after Netflix released “House of Cards,” Amazon introduced the first “pilot season” where customers could choose which shows to feature; Oddly enough, they didn’t watch most of the seasons that came out afterwards. More insider decisions are now being made, and the data seem to suggest that it’s better to focus on big productions with recognizable brands (“Lord of the Rings”, “Jack Ryan”) rather than small and niche ones. Regardless, its catalog still contains some more intimate offerings, from friendship to polygamy, when it comes to “The End of Love,” an interesting Argentine drama that shows the many current ways to love or want through the whirlwind. “apps” dating.
For whom: For those who want to save on shipping costs in their instant shopping as well as watching movies and series
What is the price: € 4.99 per month or € 49.90 per year; Fees are halved for students currently enrolled in a university with a valid university email address
3.HBO Max
In October 2021, the HBO we know became HBO Max, the platform built by WarnerMedia around its most prestigious brand. With the change came content that is easy to find or dark images that are easier to decipher, thanks to the move to 4K. Also expanding the narrative battlefield: merging into HBO’s complex and elegant productions (including ‘The Last of us’) based on HBO Max’s more generic or well-known brands. In this last sense, for example, this is where you can see ‘Welcome to Derry’, the prequel to ‘It’ by director Andy Muschietti, who is also the author of his last diptych about the killer clown. Or another supposedly gorgeous prequel like Timothée Chalamet’s ‘Dune: The Sisterhood’, which takes place 10,000 years before the rise of Paul Atreides.
For whom: Series fans who know how the Prestige TV era started; True believers of DC Comics religion despite faults
What is the price: €8.99 per month or €69.99 per year
4.Disney+
Disney’s streaming business landed in Spain in the midst of a perfect storm in March 2020, to help parents desperate to find something to distract their kids and burn time away from quarantine. Its back catalog is bottomless and includes nearly a century of Disney movies (animated or not) as well as pretty much anything imaginable from Pixar, Marvel, “Star Wars” and National Geographic brands. In February 2021, she starred in a “for the elderly” striptease featuring pearls from FX brands (“The Bear”, “The Patient” reveal) and Hulu Originals (“The Dropout”, “Dopesick”). Some European Disney+ games might get people talking seriously this year: that’s the case with Ndrangheta, which won first prize in the Berlinale Series, or ‘The Good Mothers’, a drama about a family ‘Tout va bien’. Tragicomedy starring Virginie Ephira.
For whom: parents who need some respite; Fans of Disney, Marvel or “Star Wars”; TV show experts who appreciate brands like FX and Hulu
What is the price: €8.99 per month or €89.90 per year
His shots are few but sure: TV shows and some movies with well-known people in front of and behind the camera. And always the degree of brightness expected of any Apple product. His star comedy ‘Ted Lasso’ and his most famous drama ‘Separation’ (best international drama of 2022 according to this newspaper) but his offer also includes pearls like ‘Dickinson’, ‘Servant’, ‘Mythic Quest’. or ‘Slow Horses’ is a series that would be popular with everyone if it was watched on deeper platforms. This year will see headlines as compelling as ‘City on Fire’, adapted from Garth Risk Hallberg’s Great American Novel, or ‘Masters of the air’, a miniseries by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg about the US Eighth Air Force. states during the Second World War. And apparently the new season of the monumental ‘Foundation’ too.
For whom: those who believe in the highest “quality before quantity”; iPhones ‘product placement’ lovers
What is the price: € 6.99 per month; three months free when you buy an Apple device
6.Movistar Plus+
The Telefónica pay television platform, the legacy product of the merger between Canal+ and Movistar TV, is thought to compete with Netflix and HBO by producing a handful of its own originals six years ago. From this plan emerged ambitious series such as “La Unidad”, “Libertad” and the collective “Apagón”, or unique comedies such as “Shame” and “Sorry for the inconvenience”, both from the unstoppable duo created by Álvaro Fernandez Armero. and Juan Cavestany. Additional TV channels allow you to keep your finger on the pulse of European fiction right now (see here for many of the new BBC ‘thriller movies’) and watch classic titles from the Showtime cable channel (like recently, but that’s right, it’s already classic, whose second season opens on 24 March) ‘Yellowjackets’).
For whom: devoted to less accommodating Spanish fiction; followers of six-part British ‘thriller’; those who like the old zap habit
What is the price: Movistar Plus+ Lite, 8 € per month; Fixed and mobile lines and TV packages associated with internet contract on miMovistar starting from 11 € (Movistar+ Essential)
7th movie
It’s like a great virtual moviegoer’s paradise, and what’s more, it’s well-marked. Showing that content can be cleverly arranged, the film prefers cleverly thematic channels or regularly updated collections; Perhaps the most impressive is the movie dedicated to the best movies in history, according to the latest ‘Sight & Sound’ poll, which reached 137 interesting titles. In addition to a collection of classics, auteurs and/or films from around the world, there is a strong collection of series, especially those from Europe, and these are ‘Self-Defense’ or soon ‘selftape’. The film has hosted ‘online’ versions of major national festivals during and after the peak of the pandemic. And it has its own place: Atlàntida Film Fest, with key titles presented before their theatrical release.
For whom: especially moviegoers who are not allergic to European series; people who cannot physically attend film festivals
What is the price: € 7.99 per month; €84 per year
8. ATRESplayer PREMIUM
The Atresmedia subscription package lets you view the band’s content before it premieres on television and, perhaps most importantly, enjoy the often daring original series on the platform. They’ve released “spin-offs” of some popular hits since late 2019, but they’re also blessedly intriguing things like “Veneno” (premiering on HBO Max in the United States), “Thistle” (season two just arrived on our screens) they published. or ‘La ruta’, the existential series about bakalao that we didn’t know we needed, and which was never considered. This Sunday, more “Nacho” than expected, the disrespectful and appropriately obscene approach to the life and miracles of porn actor Nacho Vidal was saved from the shutdown of Liongsate+.
For whom: nostalgic for “physics or chemistry” and “UPA”; Discoverers of new frontiers of Spanish serialized fiction
What is the price: € 4.99 per month; €49.99 per year
9. Sky Show Time
Two Hollywood giants, media conglomerates Comcast and Paramount Global, have joined forces, brands and catalogs to shape this platform exclusively for Europe. In a time when options are not scarce, SkyShowtime manages to lure in Taylor “Yellowstone” Sheridan’s series universe; All pearls from Paramount+, Peacock, Showtime and Sky Studios or movie franchises like “Star Trek”, “Mission: Impossible” and “Fast & Furious”. Also, the five seasons of ‘SpongeBob’ (or the eight! season of ‘Paw Patrol’) will serve to tame monsters. All for more than a competitive price: €2.99 per month (lifetime) for those who bought the card before 25 April.
For whom: complements to the ‘flow’ labyrinth; interested in future productions by Peacock, Paramount+, Showtime and Sky Studios; worshipers of old-school Hollywood entertainment
What is the price: € 2.99 (50% initial bid) and € 5.99 (after April 25)