With FilmStruck coming to an end this month, many cinephiles have been wondering where they’ll be able to watch classic films in the streaming age. It seems that the video site YouTube is working to help close the gap. According to USA Today, the service, which first launched in 2006, recently cut a deal with MGM studios and has released more than 100 titles onto their platform.
The movies are ad-supported, meaning you can stream them for free, so long as you don’t mind occasional commercial breaks. Otherwise, you can shell out the $9.99 a month for an ad-free experience.
“We saw this opportunity based on user demand, beyond just offering paid movies. It also presents a nice opportunity for advertisers,” Rohit Dhawan, director of product management at YouTube, told Ad Age.
Among the multiple titles available are the original Terminator, the Rocky series, Legally Blonde, and the classic Pink Panther films. It’s unclear if YouTube, which is owned by Google, will cut similar deals with other studios to expand their selection. Considering that almost two billion people use YouTube a month, it seems that more would want to get in on the action.
You can find the titles in the Free To Watch section of YouTube’s Movies and Shows channel. The same channel also has several more recent releases, and current-run TV shows, which can be rented or purchased directly from the site.
