Table Of Content
tcm.com
In 1986, Ted Turner purchased Metro Goldwyn Mayer film studio from a man named Kerk Kerkorian for a whopping $1.5 billion. However, this extravagant purchase was short-lived because Turner soon became concerned about the company's debt. Turner Entertainment was then sold back to Kerkorian under a year of initially acquiring it.
Had it not been for one specific clause in the initial contract of sale, Mr. Ted Turner would have had an embarrassingly short story to tell. It was stipulated that, no matter what, Turner Entertainment would retain the rights to MGM's film library. This is the library of movies that, along with the already sizable list of films Turner previously owned the rights to, ultimately served as the basis for Turner Classic Movies when it finally did launch on April 14th, 1994.
When I think about it, the story of TCM almost seems like the plot of a movie you would see on TCM, doesn't it? A scrappy film entrepreneur risks it all on a dream, nearly fails, but eventually overcomes his struggle to achieves more than he ever could have dreamed of? Just saying? I'd watch that movie (Teddy boy, let's do lunch soon, I think we have some business to discuss).
Thankfully, Ted Turner's dream of TCM came true in the end. This is the sole reason that, for nearly 30 years now, we have had a reliable source for watching classic movies on TV. And nowadays, there is an even more reliable way to enjoy TCM's top-notch content, thanks to one of the best movie streaming sites on the web, Watch TCM.
Design
with their inventive and stylish site design.
I really appreciate how Watch TCM has broken the mold with their website design. It's really rare to find a streaming site that stands out from the rest, and makes itself memorable in some way. They've done a great job with this, especially considering how conventional most streaming sites are.
For example, if you click on the ?Action? tab, you?ll find a list of action movies presented in reverse chronological order.
Honestly, I was fooled at first by the classy look of this movie streaming site. It could be because the site is in black and white, or it could be because they have a layout similar to news websites where all the different genres are side-by-side. But once I started looking at their movies more closely, I noticed that they vary up their presentation a bit. For example, under the ?Action? tab you'll find a list of movies presented in reverse chronological order.
This website is refreshing, to say the least. It strives to do something different when movie streaming sites are becoming increasingly uniform by the day. But it means nothing unless it is also as effective as the albeit monotonous layout of the best movie streaming sites like Netflix, Hulu, and the rest. I would go as far as to say that Watch TCM?'s site design is almost as effective.
I don't love that it requires a little more clicking around than some of the other big movie streaming sites. For instance, by not simply providing as much content as possible on the main page of the site like Netflix does, you are simply given a limited number of titles to browse based on just a single criterion: Recently Added. In order to browse more than the 20 movies featured here, you will have to click into a new page. This is not quite as streamlined or user-friendly as the more typical layouts of most of the best movie streaming sites on the web.
One thing that Watch TCM does well is to be simple. Once you click into the page on which all films can be browsed, you will have 2 options for filtering results. You can select a genre from one dropdown menu at the top of the page; or you can select how you want your results ordered from a dropdown menu immediately to the right. It's not much more complicated than that. My only complaint is that you can only select 1 genre at a time.
This would have been a much more effective browsing mechanism if it enabled you to select multiple simultaneously. Sometimes you might not just be in the mood for one specific thing, you know what I mean? Maybe, for instance, I could go for either a noir film or a western. The site's browsing feature should make it possible for me to filter out both of these genres at the same time.
Content and Features
Speaking of simplicity, this seems to be the philosophy behind TCM writ large. The features available on this site are also quite minimal. Many of the best movie streaming sites offer more features, such as being able to add titles to watch lists, comment on movies, and rate them. This doesn't appear to be the case here. Now, this isn't necessarily a dealbreaker for me when it comes to movie streaming sites, but it seems as if these kinds of social features would be particularly beneficial on a site like Watch TCM.
I think that Watch TCM is a great way for people to discuss classic movies. It's called Classic Movies, so it makes sense that people would like to use it to talk about old movies.
Watch TCM offers a simple service: streaming classic movies. Maybe this doesn't bother you as much as it does me. If so, feel free to disregard what I'm saying here - one thing remains undebatable, though: Watch TCM has one of the largest libraries of classic movies to stream on the web today. If that's all that matters to you, a huge selection of timeless movies, then Watch TCM can definitely be called one of the best movie streaming sites on the market, without a doubt. From romance to war, from crime to sci-fi, there is a little something for every lover of classic cinema to be found here.
If you're a traditional cable subscriber, you can watch TCM live online too. Just click on "Watch Live," choose your time zone, and - voila! - tune into whatever movie is airing at the moment. Watching TCM is the perfect way to enjoy both movies and live television - the best of both worlds!
Mobile and Desktop Experience
Some good news: thanks to Watch TCM's dedicated mobile apps for Android and iOS, fans of Watch TCM can watch TCM no matter where they happen to be. Whether you want to catch a flick live while commuting home from work or watch a timeless classic on-demand while in line at the DMV, the Watch TCM app has your back.
This app performs about the same as the website itself. It isn't the best movie streaming app I have ever seen, but it also isn't the worst. I have a similar complaint with the app as I do with the website - it's just a little clunkier and harder to navigate than it needs to be. But it gets the job done, nonetheless.
Many people agree that the mediocrity of this app is something that is not great. On the Apple App Store, for instance, Watch TCM has an average user rating of 3.9. This is not stellar, but it's not terrible either.
Pricings and Plans
Unfortunately, there is no way to subscribe to Watch TCM on its own. In order to access both the movie streaming site and the app, you need to be a traditional cable customer. This means that you've already got access to TCM via old-school cable in order to use the TCM online streaming site. Even though this is a bit annoying, it's not uncommon - most cable networks go about their streaming sites this way. Unless, that is, they take the leap and create their own standalone streaming service, like NBC's Peacock (but this is very rare).
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