With little fanfare last February, The CW launched a free, ad-supported live streaming service with 12 channels last fall. Now these channels are streaming for free on the CW app along with a growing amount of on-demand movies and TV shows.
The service is available on The CW’s app under the “Channels” section. Clicking on it will bring you live feeds from a dozen channels, ranging from Ion to the Game Show Channel and Mystery Science Theater 3000. Cord Cutters News has confirmed it’s also available on The CW’s Roku app. At the time of the launch these free channels only showed up on The CW website. Now, these free programs are available to stream in the CW app as it tries to compete with services like Pluto TV and The Roku Channel.
This makes the new CW app one more great option for finding free movies and TV shows online.
Free ad-supported services have proven to be increasingly popular with consumers, particularly those feeling burned by the ever-increasing prices of subscription streaming services and cable. They offer a cable TV-like experience with a channel guide and a myriad of networks with live-streaming content that you can’t skip or rewind. Now it seems thee CW hopes it can ride this growing trend to free streaming to help grow the network.
The network has long had an app with on-demand streaming content, but that had largely been for its own shows and a few older programs it acquired. This service appears to be brand new.
The CW’s streaming service isn’t a complete shocker. Entertainment President Brad Schwartz told The Hollywood Reporter in August that he intended to launch a CW free streaming service on Roku and Pluto TV, and explained that the network axed several popular shows because it lacked the right to air them on streaming.
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