Quarantined at home? Use this Ultimate Guide to Streaming Services During COVID-19 to find the best streaming services for your favorite movies, shows, games, sports and live TV.
Key Insights:
We are hardly through the Coronavirus quarantine and already many of you are showing troubling signs of boredom.
Fortunately, there are few barriers between you and your favorite movies, shows, games, sports and live TV. All you need is an internet connection, a screen and this handy guide to streaming services.
How To Stay Sane During Quarantine
As the Coronavirus forces us all inside and our collective antics make their way to social media, it occurs to me – a serial shut in and manic cave-dwelling writer – that many of you have never self isolated before.
As a general recluse, I’ve studied the various forms of isolation and found all of them to be dreadful without adequate entertainment. Trust me, you gotta keep the brain busy or weird things start happening.
Frankly, as a blogger and professional couch-surfer, I’ve never been in a better position to provide useful, reliable information about this subject to a captive audience. Y’all can’t go anywhere and for once I know you don’t actually have anything better to do than read this blog.
Don’t worry. I’m not going to bore you with shameless plugs to HIRE ME any further (I had to!)
You came here because you’re bored with your current library of entertainment and need someone to walk you through the horde of different streaming services available to you.
Well, you’re in luck. There’s a streaming service for everyone and many of them offer free trials so you can try them out hassle-free.
Streaming Services With Coronavirus Discounts and Free Trials
With the ever-growing number of stay-at-home orders due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, consumers are turning to their favorite streaming services to occupy their time and keep the boredom at bay.
To make their services more enticing to a quarantined audience, these streaming services are running special promotions; offering discounted rates and/or extending their standard free trial period:
Streaming Service Option: Acorn TV
Acorn TV is a streaming service that specializes in programming from the United Kingdom, especially mystery series like Midsomer Mysteries and Doc Martin. Right now Acorn TV is extending its standard 7 day trial to 30 days to customers who use the code FREE30 when signing up.
Monthly Subscription Cost: After the free trial, Acorn TV users can choose between $6 per month or $60 for the entire year.
Streaming Service Option: Adult Swim
Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim has released every episode of the hit animated series Samurai Jack on the Adult Swim app and their website.
Monthly Subscription Cost: Access to Adult Swim content is only available as part of your paid TV service provider package that includes a subscription to adult swim.
Streaming Service Option: AMC
Fans of The Walking Dead will be pleased to hear that AMC will be releasing the first eight episodes of season ten for free immediately following the airing of season 10, episode 14. The promotion runs from April 5 through Friday, May 1 and is available on the AMC website and app.
Monthly Subscription Cost: AMC Premiere subscriptions cost $4.99 per month and requires a subscription to cable or other paid TV service provider.
Streaming Service Option: CBS All Access
For the next month, certain shows on CBS All Access are free, like the Star Trek spin-off series Picard, starring Patrick Stewart. Users need to type in “GIFT” to sign up to unlock free episodes of the show until April 23.
Monthly Subscription Cost: CBS All Access subscriptions cost $5.99 per month or $9.99 with no ads.
Streaming Service Option: Disney+
Disney closed all of its parks but gave their fans a break with the early release of Frozen II on Disney+. The streaming service also launched in India three weeks ahead of schedule.
Monthly Subscription Cost: Disney+ is available for $6.99 or $5.83 with a $69.99 annual fee.
Streaming Service Option: HBO
Now, for a limited time, HBO is offering nearly 500 hours of original programming free on the HBO Go and HBO Now apps to anyone without a subscription. The same offering is also available to users with subscriptions to streaming services who host HBO programming.
Monthly Subscription Cost: HBO Max subscriptions will cost $14.99 in May when it launches.
Streaming Service Option: Showtime
The subscription fee to Showtime is waived If you subscribe to the network before May 3. Showtime is also offering a 30-day free trial for all new customers. Sign up provides access to the network’s streaming service via Showtime or on the Showtime app and includes Showtime’s original series, documentaries, specials, and movies, like Homeland, Penny Dreadful and Ray Donavan.
Monthly Subscription Cost: Showtime subscriptions cost $10.99 per month.
Streaming Service Option: Shudder
Horror genre fans can rejoice, Shudder, the horror-centric streaming service is extending its free trial to 30 days. Just use the code SHUTIN in signing up.
Monthly Subscription Cost: Shudder subscriptions are $5 per month.
Streaming Service Option: SiriusXM
Howard Stern recently announced that SirisusXM will offer free access to its full lineup of premiere streaming content to all North American listeners free of charge until May 15.
Monthly Subscription Cost: There are several SiriusXM plans available to users but the basic plan is $5 per month for 12 months for new subscriptions only.
Streaming Service Option: Sling TV
Right now Sling TV is offering thousands of hours of free programming alongside access to ABC News Live and various kids entertainment channels.
Monthly Subscription Cost: Sling TV Subscriptions cost between $25 and $50 per month depending on the plan you choose.
Streaming Service Option: Sundance Now
For a limited time, Sundance Now is extending their 7-day free trial to 30 days, with the code SUNDANCENOW30.
Monthly Subscription Cost: After the 3o day trial, subscriptions are $7 per month or $5 per month with yearly subscription.
Streaming Service Option Bonus: The Metropolitan Opera, Focus Features and PBS
The Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera has announced that they will be streaming performances for free on its website for as long as the opera remains closed. You can find the current schedule here.
Focus Features
Focus Features, the specialty studio division of Universal Pictures has announced that they will livestream one movie on the Focus Features Facebook page every monday in April, free of charge.
Schedule: Gosford Park (April 6, 8 p.m. ET), Moonrise Kingdom (April 13, 8 p.m. ET), Mallrats (April 20, 8 p.m. ET), and My Summer of Love (April 27, 8 p.m. ET).
PBS
Baseball fans can still get their baseball fix this spring with the help of PBS. The Public Broadcasting Service recently announced that they will make Emmy-winning documentary series Baseball available for free on all PBS digital platforms.
Stay Tuned and Stay Home
Do you like what you read here? Stay tuned for Part II of my Ultimate Guide to Streaming Services During Covid-19: Best Free Streaming Services series. If you like what you read here and would like to feature content like this on your blog, then contact me today get started.
P.S. Do your part to end the Coronavirus epidemic by staying home, washing your hands and supporting local businesses. Remember, we’re all in this together.