Philo, a live streaming television service focused on general entertainment channels, has debuted a new “Movies & More” add-on for its subscribers.
The package—which costs an additional $3 per month on top of the service’s current $25/month rate—includes five live channels (Sony Movies, Reelz, HDNET Movies, MGM HD and Cinemoi) and their VOD libraries. The add-on comes with a seven-day free trial.
Mike Keyserling, chief operating officer and head of content acquisition and business development at Philo, said the launch is in response to Philo customers’ requests for more movies and low-cost add-on options.
“We keep a close eye on our social media channels, review customer support requests, and periodically send out surveys. While we can’t fulfill every request, we’ve made it our mission to provide everyone with the best television viewing experience possible at an affordable and accessible price,” he wrote in a blog post.
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The new movies package follows the addition last year of Epix and Starz, which cost $6/month and $9/month, respectively, after a seven-day free trial.
Philo is also adding four new channels to its “Free” section: Pocket.watch, Ryan and Friends, Players TV and Gusto TV.
Philo launched in late 2017 with two tiers priced at $16 and $20 per month. The company stopped selling its $16/month package in 2019 and this summer raised its monthly rate to $25 per month.
In a blog post, Philo CEO Andrew McCollum explained that the price increase is due to fee increases from content partners along with platform and billing partner costs.
“We are relentless in our focus on keeping our price low, so we do everything we can to reduce our overhead while managing these increasing costs,” he wrote. “Even with those efforts, we can't offset these rising costs indefinitely, and this change reflects that reality.”