Free movie service Filmzie debuts on Samsung TV Plus

Free-to-view streaming movie service Filmzie hopes to pick up a following in the UK, after launching as a channel on the Samsung Tizen smart platform. It appears as a linear channel on Samsung TV Plus, so no additional app is required.

Part of this linear experience is Filmzie’s Advertising-based Video on Demand (AVoD) offering for users, meaning that all of the films in the Filmzie catalogue are just a click away. As an AVoD platform, the service is advertising supported, rather than requiring payment of any additional subscription or membership.

Currently the service lists over 1,000 titles in its catalogue, some relatively new others curated from a broad catalogue collection. One element that separates it from its rivals is a social platform, which seeks to make it more than just another film library.

“Movies are there to be watched, not hidden away behind paywalls by big corporations to line their own pockets. The film industry needs to support all the different, clever, entertaining, and passionately made movies out there,” says Matej Boda, CEO. “Films have the power to change opinions; to bewilder us, astonish us and bring joy to our lives, and we are democratizing films. We’re giving people access to great dramas, documentaries, comedies, art-house, and all the wonderful other genres between or that defy definition. We know that people understand that films cost money and producers, especially the small indies, deserve to be paid. Our AVoD model means viewers see fewer, targeted ads, in the knowledge that in return they get access to a world of fantastic films. A price worth paying.”

Filmzie is also available as an iOS and Android app via the Samsung Galaxy Store and Google Play, or through web browsers.

The Samsung linear streaming launch is the first in what is planned as a multimarket international roll-out. Additional territories and platforms are expected to follow later in 2020 and next year with localised catalogues.