Comcast, FX Hope You’re Willing To Pay $6/Month Extra To Avoid Commercials On Just One Channel
How much do you hate commercials? How much do you enjoy cable channel FX? For people that despise ads so much they are willing to pay to avoid them on a channel-by-channel basis, Comcast and FX have a new offering that is ready to take your money.
Comcast and FX (which is owned by 21st Century Fox, parent company of Comcast competitor FOX) announced this morning that they would soon be launching a new on-demand channel called FX+ which will give viewers access to the library of FX and FXX shows like American Horror Story, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Archer.
But this isn’t a standalone streaming service that allows cord-cutters to access FX shows. Rather, it’s another $5.99 a month that you would pay to Comcast on top of your cable bill.
In other words, you’d be paying $6/month just to avoid commercials on just FX shows.
A number of FX shows are readily available on streaming services, including Amazon Prime and Hulu, which is jointly owned by Comcast and 21st Century Fox. Hulu charges a premium for ad-free viewing of shows, but that additional fee covers all the content on the platform.
The one edge that FX+ seems to have over the current options is that it’s all of the big FX shows under one umbrella, with ready access to both previous and current seasons. The competing streaming services don’t get access to new episodes until months — sometimes a year — after they air.
Of course, if you have a DVR you can always just record the current episodes and watch them at your convenience, fast-forwarding through commercials instead of paying $6/month to save your thumb the effort.
For those who are interested, FX+ is set to launch Sept. 5, but only on Comcast.
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