While it doesn’t carry as much content overall as its premium competitors HBO Max and SHOWTIME, STARZ streaming is less expensive ($8.99 a month) and features popular original series like Outlander, Heels, and the Power crime drama franchise. Add in a fat collection of movies, and STARZ looks like one of the better bargains in premium TV.
STARZ is available as an add-on channel to just about every cable, satellite, and live TV streaming service out there, and also as a standalone streaming app. We’ll be focusing here on the STARZ on-demand streaming app, which has some distinct advantages over the cable add-on.
STARZ offers a seven-day free trial so you can take the service for a test drive.
You can save about $33.00 a year if you get an annual STARZ subscription for $74.99 (the cumulative monthly price for 12 months would regularly be $108.00).
Currently, you can also get STARZ for $3.00 per month for your first six months.
| Service | Price | Video | Streams | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARZ | $8.99/mo. | 1080p | 4 | View Plan |
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
Nine bucks for over 1,000 movies and TV shows? Not bad. We’d probably pay that just to endlessly rewatch the STARZ classic Party Down (the best catering comedy ever—we’ll fight anybody on this).
Data effective as of post date. Offers and availability may vary by location and are subject to change.
STARZ is an excellent premium value. The only premium channel/streaming service app cheaper than STARZ is EPIX, but we think STARZ has a stronger lineup of original series and a larger selection of movies. CINEMAX is close in price, but it actually offers less content than STARZ. Also, the $9.99 tier of HBO Max has ads, which we think takes the “premium” out of premium service.
STARZ began producing original programming in 2005 but didn’t land a mainstream hit until 2010’s splashy Spartacus series (which was basically a dumbed-down, but more fun, 300).
Since then, the network has created and acquired several popular and critically acclaimed series, like Outlander, American Gods, and the 50 Cent–produced Power franchise. STARZ is no threat to HBO and SHOWTIME yet, but it produces some consistently cool content.
In addition to STARZ’s 100+ TV series, the service also carries over 1,000 movies, both recent releases and older films. STARZ has a particularly deep library of westerns from the 1930s forward if you have a hankerin’ for classic gun-slingin’ action.
Like most other premium TV services, STARZ offers closed-captioning subtitles and PIN-protected parental settings based on standard TV ratings: TV–Y, TV–Y7, TV–G, TV–PG, TV–14, and TV–MA for series; G, PG, PG–13, R, and NC–17 for movies.
You can also create up to five user profiles (including one for the kids with those parental settings in place). Just create a nickname for each and upload your own avatar images or choose one from STARZ’s 12 color-coded icons (we went with the green alien, but the yellow dinosaur is also cute).
| Service | Movies and TV shows | Offline downloads |
|---|---|---|
| STARZ | 1,100+ | Yes |
STARZ’s on-demand movie and series sections are broken down into scannable categories like Comedy, Action, Drama, etc. There are helpful categories like Coming Soon (which gives you a trailer and release date) and less-than-clear sections like High Replay Value (huh?). Overall, the navigation is clean and simple.
| Service | Simultaneous streams |
|---|---|
| STARZ | 4 |
STARZ gives you four streams—one more than either HBO Max or SHOWTIME’s streaming apps offer. Three streams don’t always cut it for larger families and households, so this is a check in the win column for STARZ.
| Device | STARZ |
|---|---|
| Amazon Fire Cube, Stick, TV | ✓ |
| Android phones, tablets | ✓ |
| Android TV | ✓ |
| Apple TV (4th gen.) | ✓ |
| Apple TV 4K | ✓ |
| Chromecast, Chromecast with Google TV | ✓ |
| Facebook Portal | ✓ |
| Echo Show | ✓ |
| iPhone, iPad | ✓ |
| LG TVs (select models) | ✓ |
| Nintendo Switch | ✗ |
| NVIDIA SHIELD Pro TV | ✓ |
| PC, Mac web browsers | ✓ |
| PlayStation 4, 5 | ✗ |
| Roku Ultra, Express, Premiere, Stick, TV | ✓ |
| Samsung TVs (select models) | ✓ |
| Sony TVs (select models) | ✓ |
| TiVo Stream | ✓ |
| Vizio TVs (select models) | ✗ |
| Wii | ✗ |
| Xbox One | ✓ |
| Xfinity Flex, X1 | ✓ |
Data effective as of post date.
That’s some excellent device coverage, except for gaming consoles. Sorry, PlayStation and Nintendo users.
STARZ streams at 1080p HD but doesn’t offer any 4K content. As with any streaming service, with or without 4K, you’ll want a strong internet connection—STARZ recommends at least 6 Mbps of download speed, but we suggest upping that to 25 Mbps for any TV streaming, minimum.
STARZ audio streams at standard 2.0 stereo, with some movies and shows available in Dolby 5.1 surround sound. Dolby Atmos isn’t supported on the STARZ streaming app.
Content-wise, STARZ may not be an equal competitor to HBO or SHOWTIME, but its $8.99 price tag certainly helps level the playing field. It has enough buzzy original content to sustain its cool factor, and the movie selection is deep and diverse.
Well, not completely diverse: If you’re into documentaries and sports—strong areas for HBO and SHOWTIME—STARZ doesn’t have much for you. STARZ’s jam is entertainment, not docs and sportsball.
For the price, we say STARZ is worth it (especially now that there’s a new Party Down reboot on the way).
Our TV experts spent hours testing and evaluating STARZ, rating the service on value, reliability, and features. Then we matched the service up against other premium streaming TV services head to head to give a clearer picture of its strengths and weaknesses. For more information on our methodology, check out our How We Rank page.
In 2016, the STARZ premium cable channel also became available as a standalone streaming app. The STARZ streaming service costs $8.99 a month or $74.99 annually if paid in advance.
As a cable channel, STARZ includes an additional 16 genre-specific subchannels: STARZ Edge, STARZ in Black, STARZ Comedy, STARZ Cinema, STARZ Kids & Family, STARZ Encore, STARZ Encore Action, STARZ Encore Classic, STARZ Encore Black, STARZ Encore Family, STARZ Encore Suspense, STARZ Encore Westerns, STARZ Encore Espanol, Movie Plex, Indie Plex, and Retro Plex.
These channels aren’t live on the STARZ streaming service, but all of the channels’ content is available on-demand.
The STARZ app is compatible with most streaming devices, smart TVs, and web browsers. It’s not supported on PlayStation or Nintendo consoles.
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